The office of the District Transport Office (DTO) of South Garo Hills (SGH) in Baghmara has literally been in-operational after all the computers meant for the office broke down in phases and replacements were never made.
The situation, according to a source from the DTO office, has been the same for the past 3 months as transport authorities, despite being made aware of the situation, have refrained from providing the office the supplies required.
The source said the main situation developed due to faulty lines and electrical wiring in the very dilapidated building that works as the DTO office. The poor wiring condition has led to many of the computers, which are extremely old, breaking down and office work being halted.
The source added that the matter of the poor building condition had been informed to the government as well as the transport office after which an estimate was prepared by the MCC for construction. However the project is still to be given the go ahead despite the plaster in most of the rooms in the office, already falling off.
“The main issue has been the wiring of the building which is faulty due to which there are frequent breakdowns of the computers. Unless given the go ahead we are unable to even purchase new stuff for the office which is making things extremely difficult for us,” said an employee of the office on condition of anonymity.
The situation, as per them, has been the same for the past 3 months and numerous reminders have been sent to the state transport authorities to help with replacing the faulty systems with new ones. Coupled with the fact that the DTO himself has the unenviable task of handling two districts, the situation is far from ideal for locals of the area.
“I have been working from the Tura DTO office and updating information from here due to the pandemic situation and my duties as DTO. An MVI has been posted there and we have been trying our best to work through the pandemic restrictions to clear all files that come to us. Further a repaired CPU has also been sent to the DTO office in Baghmara,” said Sengchalak D Shira, the DTO of both South and West Garo Hills.
The transport department has been one of the revenue earners for the state and the GHADC and has put a question mark on why the matter is not being resolved at the earliest.
South Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, Hubert Marak said that the office of the DTO had been asked to ensure repairs to the CPU so that normal work at the office can resume.
Meanwhile the situation has left many residents of the district fuming at what they called abject laziness on the part of the authorities in getting the situation worked on so that normal duties can resume and pending files cleared in time. Complaints on the situation have been made to the office of the DC in the hope that things are taken care.
How can they be this lazy and not provide the things needed to run such an important office. The building is literally falling apart and is there for all to see. What are they waiting for and why are we being punished,” asked local resident and activist, Greneth Sangma.
