Ongoing state govt employees’ strike stalls several works at Pune RTO

Pune: Shivajinagar resident Kalyan Bhausal had reached the city's regional transport office (RTO) on Friday morning to enquire about getting the address changed on his vehicle's registration certificate, but found the premises to be almost deserted.For around 45 minutes, Bhausal tried to locate an official to help him, but with all counters empty, his attempts were futile. "I didn't know about the ongoing govt employees' strike. A man standing outside the office finally told me. I went to the first floor and found a few straggling officials, who provided me with the information I wanted. But work at the RTO is clearly hampered," he said.State govt employees have been on an indefinite strike since April 21, pressing for several long-pending demands.Pune regional transport officer (RTO) Archana Gaikwad said that while licensing work is on as usual, tasks like address change, licence renewal, vehicle ownership transfer, loan transfer, etc. have definitely been affected. "We have deputed our assistant RTOs to answer queries of the public and help them out. Some works are affected, but licencing procedures are taking place sans hiccups," she told TOI.Some people said they are finding it difficult to get fresh slots for driving tests. "I tried, but in vain. The strike seems to have impacted this activity. But, it could also just be glitches in the Parivahan portal. Either way, RTO needs to resolve the issue, as it could lead to a rising backlog," said Hadapsar resident Pallavi Sarath.Her claim was countered by an RTO official, who chose anonymity and said, "People are coming in for driving tests as usual, even for learner's licences. There is no problem. Only some work at the RTO has been affected due to the strike. We haven't got any complaints from anyone regarding problems faced while getting test appointments and slots until now."Meanwhile, the protest has definitely resulted in some RTO campaigns grinding to a halt. "Last week, we started a drive against malpractices in private buses, checking on overcharging, overloading, functionality of emergency doors, etc. Around 290 buses were checked and 100 e-challans issued on April 19-20. But this campaign has been stalled by the strike. We will restart it once the stir ends," said Gaikwad.Sources said that action against errant cabbies, which had also been undertaken earlier this week, has stopped as well for the same reason, and will resume whenever the strike ends.
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