Plan to use pvt cars on poll duty junked
Days after residents started crying foul, the regional transport department officials rolled back their decision to acquire private cars and SUVS for electionduty in Ghaziabad.
Last week, the transport department had sent a list of about 700-800 vehicles, with a capacity to seat up to seven people, to the Ghaziabad administration for being enlisted on poll related duty.
The move drew a lot of flak by private car owners who said that this was the first time that their private vehicles were being sought in such a manner.
HT on April 14 published a report highlighting the issue and responses from car owners.
“Since there is resentment against the move, we have decided to exempt private cars from election duties. Now, we
will acquire only light vehicles that are registered in the name of travel agencies or registered as taxis or used for commercial operations. No private vehicles/ cars will be acquired, not even those registered in the name of private firms/companies,” said additional regional transport officer (ARTO) (enforcement) Ghaziabad, KD Singh.
He said the latest decision was
taken as the transport department was receiving plenty of calls from car owners saying they were opposed to the move.
“Some said that they have weddings in the family while others said that they have ailing family members and could not give up their vehicle. Others claimed that they do not have the facility of a driver,” the officer said.
“To ease matters, we decided to exempt private cars. We need about 750 vehicles for election duty and these were demanded by the district administration and the police department,” he added.
On April 13, Rahul Srivastava, additional RTO, told HT that there was a requirement of about 4,300 vehicles for election duty.
The list of vehicles included private vehicles such as buses, trucks, loaders, etc. along with 700-800 light vehicles such as Bolero, Scorpio, Ertiga, among others.
The sources in the transport department said that the list of private cars included the ones which were registered in the past two to three years.
“The decision to roll back the previous order is a welcome step. But in the past one week, people served notices for the acquisition of their private cars faced a lot of harassment. They were given repeated calls by the local police. Many had to visit the transport department office a number of times with their pleas,” said Vikrant Sharma, a resident of Raj Nagar Extension and a lawyer at the Ghaziabad court.
“The decision was intended to provide better cars to officials going on election duty but at what cost?” he said.
In the past one week, people served notices for the acquisition of their private cars faced a lot of harassment. VIKRANT SHARMA, resident and advocate