By ARFAT KHAN
JAMMU: Endangering human lives and causing serious threat to environment huge fleet of unfit vehicles in league with officers of Transport Department is running rampant on roads with impunity.
While this practice is prevalent in almost all the districts of J&K but the situation is more alarming in Jammu district where the officers posted in Regional Transport Office, Jammu fails to check this menace for some obvious reasons.
In Jammu Railway station yard there is a huge fleet of unfit trucks which are used for transportation of cement and coal to different parts in J&K.
Regional Transport sources attributes the smooth movement of these ‘death devils’ on roads due to corruption ridden Board of Inspection (Goods) who is allegedly hand in gloves with the owners of these unfit trucks
Usually these unfit vehicles are 25 years old and worth condemned but still running on roads in the night and early morning hours.
But none from Motor Vehicle Department or Police prefers to act against these condemned vehicles, added sources.
From RTO Jammu to officers of Board of Inspection everyone knows about the operation of this huge fleet of unfit trucks but never apprise the higher authorities about this menace, alleged an officer of RTO Jammu office preferring anonymity.
Nearly 42,000 commercial and non-commercial vehicles out of total 14 lakh vehicles are plying on roads in different parts of the J&K without mandatory fitness certificate. In Jammu region, the figure of such unfit vehicles is close to 12000.
Though the old commercial vehicles need to obtained fitness certificates from the BoI (G) after every six months. However, the nexus is such that the owners of these unfit vehicles manages everything for few bucks, said sources in RTO Jammu.
Situation is such that MVI Rajeev Kundal and ARTO Pawan Sharma developed special predilections for BoI (G) over the years due to this nexus.
When contacted RTO Jammu, Dhanter Singh clarified that Transport Department confiscate several unfit vehicles which were found running on road but remain silent on presence of huge condemned vehicles which keep ferrying cements from Jammu Railway station uniteruptedly.