The four-day work boycott by the employees of the Uttarakhand Transport Ministerial Employees Union (UTMEU) which ended on Wednesday, badly affected the revenues of the transport department.
As per the officials, the department has suffered a loss of around Rs 3-4 crore per day basis. After getting assurance from the higher officials, union members have suspended their strike for three days. They decided to resume their work after boycotting work for four days. Members of the union revealed that they have been assured by the officials that their demands are being reviewed and the officials need some time for it.
The members of the union also revealed that they would continue their protest under next phase if their demands are not fulfilled on time. The union members were protesting in support of their demand for promotions of officials and recruitment of new officials on the 90 per cent vacant posts of senior assistants. Yashveer Singh Bisht, Registrar of the transport department said that they have got assurance from the officials and their pending files have been transferred to Transport Commissioner. Now the Transport Commissioner and additional transport commissioner would be looking into the matter.
The department witnessed around 20-30 per cent more visitors than general on Wednesday following resumption of work at the RTO. However, many visitors were still in confusion about the strike and returned back from the RTO office. During the course of strike the routine work at RTO was badly hampered and many visitors were forced to return back without their work being done.
Meanwhile, as part of the two days drive of the regional transport officers around 160 vehicles were challaned and 35 vehicles were impounded by the officers on the spot for various violations. The drive was effectively carried on at places like ISBT, Shimla bypass, Chakrata road, Mussoorie by pass road and Haridwar by pass road.
According to ARTO (Enforcement), A K Pandey, as many as three teams including one from Rishikesh and two from Dehradun were deployed to make the checking drive successful. He added that during the drive many drivers were found without the license, driving permit and even without the fitness papers of their vehicle.
ARTO Haridwar, Anand Jaiswal, TTO Vishnu Maya and officials from RTO Dehradun and Haridwar participated actively in the drive.