Acting swiftly on the report of Study Group led by Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra Government has directed the Transport Department to close the border checkposts in State. Many people heaved a sigh of relief as the checkposts controlled by the Transport Department had become major centres of allegedly illegal recovery by some of the officials.

 

The Study Group formed under the leadership of Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar gave a very comprehensive report on the basis of which Government took a decision to close the checkpost. Unfortunately, the process of closure of the checkposts is getting delayed. Admitting the fact that the checkposts still have not been closed, Bhimanwar told ‘The Hitavada’, “Implementation of some process takes some time. We got the instructions and accordingly, we are closing the checkposts. In our report along with other recommendations, we have clearly stated that technology can replace the human resources. We all members were unanimous on this recommendation.” Transport Department of State had received several complaints against the alleged illegal recovery being made by Regional Transport Offices. Regional Transport Officers allegedly used to ‘recover’ amount from underloaded as well as overloaded trucks, buses at check posts.

 

The recovered sum of Nagpur rural alone, if calculated, comes to some crores of rupees. It is collected every month. This has been going on for years together. The vested interest of some rich transporters has given birth to the nexus between them and RTO officers. These allegations were made in complaints lodged by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, ex-MLA Sudhakar Kohale and some transporters. Ministry of Transport had begun the enquiry. Had that enquiry been conducted, it would have brought several surprising elements to the fore. Unfortunately, nobody knows whether that enquiry was conducted or not. The Study Group was expected to decide the work system of closure of border checkposts in Maharashtra. The Committee conducted study on what kind of process to be applied to close the border checkposts. The Committee studied the subsequent effect and provided their solutions to Government.