It may be unbelievable but true that out of the 30,000 auto-rickshaws plying in the city, only 296 drivers have valid driving licences (Dl) issued by the Regional Transport Office (RTO). The rest drivers have Dls issued by their respective auto -rickshaw associations, said Bhubaneswar RTO lalmohan Sethi recently.
Speaking at a seminar on road safety organised by the Sankha Dwani Rasta Suraksha Samiti, Sethi said out of the 30,000 auto -rickshaws, 22,000 were plying without fitness certificates. In a survey it was found that 90 per cent auto- rickshaw drivers were illiterate or under-Matric. To make matters worse, most of them were ignorant about traffic signs, said Sethi underscoring the need for counselling sessions for drivers to stop accident in the city.
Echoing the same view, All India Motor Transport Workers Welfare Association spokesperson Subrat Nanda said staff shortage was ailing the two RTOs in the city. The organisation demanded to start ‘May I Help You’ counters for issue of licences to the auto rickshaw drivers. The number of auto -rickshaws has reached a saturation point in the city but still new ones were being registered, he lamented.
Nanda further informed that though the State was facing a shortage of heavy vehicle drivers, the heavy vehicle training institute at Chhatia inaugurated by the Chief Minister before the Panchayat elections was yet to function.
Interestingly, during a raid on the Baramunda Bus Stand by the erstwhile Superintendent of Police Arun Sarangi, it was found that 90 per cent of the night express bus drivers were drunk.
Though the Transport Department generates the highest revenue after Excise, it does not have a permanent Secretary or Transport Commissioner. Somebody is always given additional charge of the department, said Nanda.