Pollution Certificate Woes: Citizens Face Fines and RTO Hurdles, Allegations of Bribes Emerge

Pollution Certificate Pain: People have to pay fines and pay traffic fines! Cuttack, 31/12 (Bureau): The State Transport Department has arbitrarily imposed a fine on the people. The people are facing various problems. Even after standing in line for pollution certificates, they cannot get the certificates due to the congestion. Moreover, the order issued that pollution certificates cannot be issued to those who have fines is leaving people in a lot of trouble. It is alleged that the general public has to pay traffic fines at various RTO offices. As a result, paying the challan has become more painful than getting the pollution control certificate. There are two types of challans. One challan has been cleared by the police, another by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) staff. Those that have been cleared by the police are in the virtual court. They are being paid online. But there is a bigger problem at the RTO level. Although there is a rule that every challan should be sent to the court within 90 days of the challan being cleared, many RTOs have not sent the challan to the court and have been sitting on it. The transport department is silent on this issue. But in the cases that have been sent to the court, if a person wants, there is a provision to rectify it. But this power has been given to the RTOs. The person concerned will submit an application to the RTO regarding the case pending in the court. He will mention that he wants to revert his case. On the basis of the application, the RTO will withdraw the fine case. The vehicle owner can apply for a pollution certificate by paying the fine amount. But now there are allegations that the fine case has to be withdrawn in various RTO offices. The RTO employees are not withdrawing the case without giving a handgunja. The vehicle owners are forced to pay the fine because they have to obtain a pollution certificate, so they are giving a handgunja. A senior official of the Transport Department said that there have been no complaints about handgunja being given. If there are complaints, strict action will be taken.