Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday made a surprise visit to the transport authority office in Burari and after receiving a barrage of complaints he directed the officers concerned to decentralising the work done there and open vehicle fitness test centres across the city by next month.
Accompanied by Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and senior officials of the department including Transport Commissioner Varsha Joshi, the Chief Minister met owners of auto rickshaws and other commercial vehicles and listened to their complaints.
The Chief Minister discussed the complaints with the Transport Secretary, and Commissioner and the Motor licensing Officer (MlO) of the authority and directed them to take remedial steps to avoid such irregularities.
“It was complained that work here gets done quickly through touts otherwise it lingers for months. The fitness test centres (for vehicles) will be opened across the city by next month. I have also sought a list of works done here and we will completely decentralise it,” Kejriwal told reporters. Presently all the fitness certifications of three wheelers are done at Burari Transport Authority.
He instructed the officers to ensure that by August 1, as many vehicle fitness test centres are opened in the city as are required. Kejriwal also asked the officials to look at the possibilities of outsourcing fitness certification. He said that the centralisation of certification is a major reason for corruption and it must be decentralized to weed out corruption.
“If 5,000 vehicle fitness test centres are required to be opened in the city, it should be opened,” the chief minister said. learning about the difficulty faced by auto rickshaw owners in purchasing and recharging SIM cards for GPS, he directed the transport department officials to ensure that it was made widely available.
Seeing long queues at the counters of the transport authority office, Kejriwal directed the transport commissioner to make surprise visit once a week and seek feedback from at least 50 people and get the whole process video recorded.
The secretary was also directed by CM to submit a full report of the inspection done to the minister concerned.
“There is no need for long queues. Corrupt officers will be punished and the work done here will be decentralised,” he said and directed transport department officials to give him a list including name, address and the work for which people visited the transport department office Burari in the last 10 days.
The purpose of seeking details is to get the claims of the MlO cross checked with the applicants, he said.
The Burari transport authority office is visited by thousands every day for permit, vehicle fitness tests and other paper works of different types of commercial vehicles including auto rickshaws and taxis.