the goan I network
MARGAO
The issue over the High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) threatened to snowball into a law and order problem after Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai and his supporters stormed the RTO Arlem office, demanding better services for the vehicle owners, including additional counters and increase in the manpower requirements.
Anticipating law and order, the Fatorda police detained a representative of the contractor for a brief period, by whisking him away into a waiting police vehicle. While Sardesai called for the immediate suspension of the HSRP operations pending implementation of basic facilities, Salcete Mamlatdar Prataprao Gaonkar rushed to the venue to take stock of the situation along with Executive Magistrate Madhu Narvekar and had a meeting with RTO officials Prakash Kholkar and Vinod Arlekar.
The Fatorda MLA was demanding additional manpower to receive cash and to fit the HSRPs, besides erection of a pandal for the vehicle owners for protection from the scorching sun and drinking water facility.
As the Fatorda MLA further threatened to mobilise Goa Forward supporters at the office on Friday if the situation does not improve within 24 hours, district Collector, Ajit Roy called for an emergency meeting in his office with Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Uday Prabhudesai, Mamlatdar Prataprao Gaonkar, Assistant Director, Transport (Registration) Prakash Kholkar and Assistant Transport Director, Vinod Arlekar and police officials PI Kapil Nayak and PI Gurudas Kadam wherein a host of directions were issued to the RTO to streamline the exercise taking note of the hardships faced by the
vehicle owners.
Trouble began at the RTO office when a serpentine queue of vehicle owners stood outside under the scorching sun for their turn for the fitment of their HSRP plates. Neither the authorities nor the contractor deemed fit to provide a pandal at the site and neither was any drinking water facility provided at the site given that the vehicle owners were literally made to stand in the sun for two or more hours.
As the serpentine queue moved at a snail’s pace given that the contractor has deployed only two staffers to accept the payments and another 10 fitters to install the HSRPs, the Fatorda MLA questioned the RTO officials why the vehicle owners had to bear the brunt at the hands of the contractor for no fault of theirs.
Matters came to a head when the supervisor of the agency was questioned by the mob whether the HSRPs fitted at the centre conformed to the specifications, given that an RTO officer pointblank remarked that the exercise is not carried out as per the technical guidelines.
Later briefing the media, Sardesai termed the ongoing exercise as anarchy, blaming the State government for forcing people to stand in unending queues, but making little effort to pressurise the contractor to make better arrangements.
