Poll duty to hit RTOs, your auto commute hard

Deployment of staff from Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across the city for poll duty could have a direct bearing on your autorickshaw commute.

The lack of staff would mean that over the next few days, the number of autorickshaws that will miss their fitness-passing test — the mandatory annual checking of a public transport vehicle for its road-worthiness — will rise manifold.

For a commuter, this could mean travelling in autorickshaws whose road-worthiness is suspect. In some cases, it would mean seeing less autorickshaws on the road, because the Motor Vehicle rules prohibit the running of those that have missed their fitness-passing procedure.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, autorickshaw union functionaries made the rounds of the transport commissionerate in Bandra to apprise the authorities of the problem, but they were told that, with the Election Commission issuing a terse warning a couple of days ago of action against departments that don't release their staff for poll duty, there is nothing much that can be done.

Transport commissioner VN More told dna, "Election duty is absolutely important... Work at RTOs will be affected because we, even on a normal day, have a staff shortage of 30-40%. However, we will try our best to minimise the hardship arising out of this."

All the RTOs in city — Tardeo, Andheri and Wadala — and the deputy RTO in Borivli are facing shortage of motor vehicle inspectors — the people who check the fitness of an autorickshaw. Poll duty will only increase the load.

A recent high court ruling that no inspector will certify more than 60 vehicles a day will also have a bearing during this phase, said officials. While RTOs in city have a sanctioned strength of 965 personnel, their strength on the ground should be around 700.

Speaking to dna, Thampi Kurien, general-secretary of the Mumbai Rickshawmen's Union, said, "We believe anything between 150 and 200 autorickshaws will be turned back from the RTOs due to lack of motor vehicle inspectors. By May 16 (counting day), the backlog will run into thousands."

"Moreover, an autorickshaw driver will have to pay a one-time fine of Rs1,000 for missing the fitness test and a daily fine of Rs100. It would be unfair on those drivers who missed their fitness test not because they didn't go to the RTO but because there wasn't enough staff to check them. In such circumstances, some drivers might not take to the roads at all," he added.

"Lack of fitness certificate for a vehicle could also affect its insurance policy as the certificate is the primary requisite for an insurance claim to be processed."

Auto numbers in MMR (as per 2011 records)
63,092: Andheri RTO
44,761: Wadala RTO
86,159: Thane RTO
10,534: Navi Mumbai RTO