Kolkata, Nov. 3 -- A 15-year wait for the replacement of an auto-rickshaw permit ended on November 2 for a Bijoygarh-based woman after Transport minister Arjun Singh intervened in a case pending with the Alipore Regional Transport Office (RTO) since 2011.
Mousumi Paul and her mother had approached the Alipore RTO in 2011 to convert their petrol-driven auto-rickshaw to LPG. After Mousumi's father died in 2005, the family continued running his two autos on the Jadavpur-Ranikuthi route for their livelihood.
She alleged that a broker operating on the RTO premises had taken money to complete formalities related to the permit, certificate of fitness (CF) and insurance, but failed to do so. Repeated visits to the RTO yielded no resolution, with the family being given reasons such as staff transfers and a fire at the office.
The family recently approached Singh, after which his office took up the matter with Alipore RTO. An enquiry found that the CF was not uploaded, insurance formalities remained incomplete and road tax was not paid.
Mousumi was asked to meet RTO Amitava Majumder. She said she received cooperation from the officials and was provided with a physical copy of the permit. She received delivery of her new auto-rickshaw on November 2.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.