‘Work still incomplete, we had some funding problem’: RTO Kmr
Srinagar, Aug 03: The Regional Transport Office (RTO) Kashmir is operating from a rented house, despite claims that the new office building situated at Bemina Srinagar is already completed.
The Transport Bhavan for the Transport Commissioner Office and RTO office was supposed to be built at a cost of Rs 697.96 lakh at Bemina.
At present, the RTO Kashmir is being run from a rented house on Qamarwari Batmaloo road.
The visitors said that the rented RTO office lacks basic facilities.
“From congested corridors to toilets, it does not have enough space to accommodate visitors, so people face a lot of problems. In absence of the facilities, visitors are suffering badly,” said Riyaz Ahmad who had come to the RTO office for the transfer of his car.
“It appears strange that such a government office with large public dealing is operating from a rented house for so long. The department is paying a huge amount of rupees per month as rent and if calculated they might have paid more rent than the value of the building hired,” said another visitor.
“Though the government is serious on the completion of all the projects here in the Union territory, the attention of the administration was never attracted to this mockery of running the RTO office from a rented house,” the visitors said adding that from the last several years no one bothers to complete the new office situated at Bemina , but prefers to operate from private accommodation for the reasons best known to them.
The insiders said that the delay in shifting of the RTO office has put a financial burden on the government exchequer, as it has to pay rent for the rented house.
“The government has to spend money on rent, which could be used for other purposes. Delay in shifting the RTO office to the new building is a matter of concern. The government should ensure shifting the RTO office to the new building as soon as possible,” said one of the officials working in the RTO office, wishing not to be named.
The contractors and the low rank officials in the RTO office, including the visitors, claimed that the new office building is almost completed and that the department owes a huge amount to the people involved in the construction.
When this newspaper contacted RTO Kashmir, Syed Shanawaz Bukhari, he admitted that the visitors and even the employees are facing the problems in absence of the proper office.
“The project was languishing. Just now, I was in the meeting with the engineers, there was some problem about the funds, but we have managed to release the payment to the contractors,” Shanawaz claimed.
He added that they have released the payment of all the work and efforts are on to complete the project so that the office could be shifted to the new location.
When asked, contractors are claiming that the work has been already completed and they are not being paid, he replied, “Building is still incomplete”.
“Who told you the building is complete, it is not true. We have released the payment to them. More than anybody else, I also don’t want to run my office from this rented place. There were many problems which we were facing in this project, but now I am sure that we are on track to complete it as soon as possible,”
