Five districts of Assam functioning without regular Motor Vehicle Inspectors

Transport Minister's home district also doesn't have any

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MANGALDAI: As many as five districts of Assam are without any regular Motor Vehicle Inspectors (MVIs) causing tremendous hardship to vehicle owners besides hampering smooth functioning of the District Transport Offices (DTOs) there. These are Biswanath, Darrang, Hailakandi, and Udalguri besides Nalbari — which is the home district of State Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.

This is despite the fact that the MVIs are the key persons of the DTOs — one of the highest revenue-earning departments of the State. Among various other responsibilities, the MVIs conduct the driving tests for issuance of driving licenses, examine vehicles that meet with accidents and also issue the fitness certificates to the commercial vehicles.

While an MVI of Kamrup (Rural) district has been entrusted the additional charge of Nalbari district, Hailakandi district is also reportedly functioning without a regular MVI. Same is the case with Darrang district. The MVI in the office of the DTO, Darrang district, was transferred to Dhubri district in the third week of March. But his reliever, immediately after joining there, retired on March 31. Failure of the Transport department to appoint a new MVI has led the office to function without an MVI.

What is more, one MVI has been entrusted the responsibility of looking after three districts. The DTO offices in the districts of Udalguri and Biswanath are functioning without any MVI. The MVI at Tezpur in the office of the DTO, Sonitpur, has been assigned the responsibility to look after all these three districts.

However following the failure of the Transport department to adopt a clear policy in this regard, the offices of the DTO at Kamrup (Metro) at Betkuchi and Kamrup (Rural) district at Amingaon have four MVIs each. Similarly, the DTO offices in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Nagaon, and Goalpara districts are functioning with two MVIs each.

Sources further informed that posting in Kamrup (Metro) and Kamrup (Rural) districts have been considered for a section of the blue eyed MVIs only.