Faridkot RTA alleges tampering of record in Moga DTO office
MOGA: A day after Faridkot Regional Transport Authority (RTA) secretary Hardeep Singh forcibly took possession of records at the office of the Moga DTO by locking three rooms, serious irregularities have come to the fore in the functioning of the local transport department.
The first is that Dharamkot sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, who was given the additional charge as DTO, didn’t relinquish charge even after the state government notified on August 17, that the post had been abolished.
The second is that the RTA, Hardeep, has alleged that over the two weeks since the abolition of the post, there was tampering with records. He has also claimed that record had been rewritten manually for vested interests.
“Upholding the interest of the transport department and to prevent further tampering of record and future litigation, the undersigned told the staff at RTA office, Faridkot, to put the record under lock and key, and given one set of keys to the SDM Moga,” the RTA’s August 29 letter to state transport commissioner Tanu Kashyap reads.
After RTA’s intervention, the DTO relinquished his charge on Tuesday.
DTO continued to hold post, despite notification “Also the post of DTO Moga was abolished but there are cases where the registrations are being done which now have to been done by SDM Moga as per notification,” the letter goes on to add. Officials claimed that Dhaliwal did not even return the official Innova car that he was supposed to give back immediately after the notification.
HAND OVER INFRA,
GOVT TOLD ALL DTOS Prior to the abolition of DTO posts, the state transport commissioner had sent a letter on July 25 to all DTOs, informing them the infrastructure and documents were to be handed over the SDM or the RTA. However, DTO Dhaliwal and his staff brazenly ignored the orders and record had not been transferred to date.
“I sent my staff to seal the records. Documents had not been segregated and were scattered across three rooms. So, we had to lock the three rooms,” RTA Hardeep said.