Rich fruits of corruption in Goa at Pernem RTO office

Bhahujan Mukti Party strongly condemns corruption at Goa Government’s Transport Ministry and calls for the resignation of Transport minister Sudin Dhavlikar.

It has come to light that private agent and Road Transport Officer (RTO) at Pernem office are combining well to form a nexus of corruption. RTO at Pernem office refuses to clear files without paying Rs.1000/- to a private agent. The modus operandi adopted is as follows.

The Transport department has kept the knowledge of the formalities to transfer permit from old rent-a-bike to the new rent-a-bike with the private agent and refuses to divulge it to any member of public. It is not displayed on any notice board of the RTO office in Pernem. Citizens are directed by the RTO officer to visit Private agent. Private agent then charges (extorts) Rs.1000/- per bike as his consultation fees without receipt.

It may be noted that road tax imposed for a rent-a-bike is Rs.1000/- per year while the road tax for a five seater Maruti van taxi is Rs.500/- per year. This is already day light robbery of rent-a-bike owners and in addition RTO is compelling citizens to pay for private agent. RTO refuses to clear the file till private agent is paid. The nexus is so open, transparent and direct.

This nexus can be broken simply by making public the process involved in transfer of permit from old rent-a-bike to new rent-a-bike.

Yet it is important to probe as to why these corrupt practices are resorted to by the inspector. It is well known that post of a RTO needs the bribe of Rs.25 lakhs and above. One possibility is that the RTO in Pernem has paid this bribe to get the job and has employed private agent to recover this amount from the public in the above manner. The other possibility is that he has been given monthly target to accumulate fixed amount per month through bribes to be paid to the Transport Minister or to the Chief Minister or both; for which reason the Pernem RTO is engaged in this kind of organized corruption with full support of the government that promised zero tolerance to corruption on the day of its inception.

The road permit of the two wheelers bikes engaged in rent-a-bike model after the period of expiry of the permit which is roughly seven years. The owner of the bike is then made to pay the road tax afresh for this period in order to get the bike privately registered which can be actually adjusted from the previous rent-a-bike taxes paid. This policy is followed for taxi cars too. This is how common people are being subjected to loot by the current government in power.

There is no value for the bike owners but agents are seen in esteemed manner by the Pernem RTO. In fact agents are not supposed to be even seen in the premises. Agents are not paying any taxes to the government on their activities but the rent-a-bike owners are paying taxes to the government. Agents are only nuisance promoted by Pernem RTO with blessings of ruling government.

This taxation policy is against common people operating small time rent-a-bike business most of whom are common people – the mulnivasis Bhahujan Samaj.

It is not sure as to why this policy is resorted to by the State government but reasons are not very remote to guess. The loot is resorted to legally as well as illegally. The Bamon Raj administration has yielded rich fruits of corruption and it is there for every one to see at Pernem RTO office.

Names of the corrupt RTO officer in Pernem and the concerned extorting Agent will be declared to the investigating agency whenever needed.