Hyderabad: Parking woes at Mehdipatnam RTA office hassle commuters

Hyderabad: Parking vehicles on the roadside has become a major issue for commuters in and across the city, but the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Mehdipatnam officials are conducting the vehicle inspections and fixing registration number plates on the main road and creating a massive roadblock on the stretch. Moreover, with lack of parking facilities in RTA office premises, the applicants who are visiting the office were fined for parking their vehicles on roads by the traffic police.

Almost all the RTA offices in the city lack proper parking space in the premises, but the Mehdipatnam RTA office is one which inspects the vehicles including the fitness renewal and fix number plates on the roadside.

Hundreds of vehicle owners visit RTA offices for transactions including driving licenses, vehicle registration, fitness renewal, permit, and many more. The office authorities hold vehicle inspection on the roadside but when the vehicle was parked, the applicants were fined for no parking and challans were issued by the traffic police.

According to the vehicle owners visiting the RTA office, the entire process of inspecting the vehicle was conducted on the roadside, meanwhile, another vehicle owner who was in queue was fined for parking the vehicle on the road.

Shaik Fahad, who came to the RTA office at Tolichowki for inspection of his auto-rickshaw, was in a shock after he was handed over a challan by the traffic police for parking his vehicle on a service road. He had to park his vehicle in front of the RTA office and had to go for a photograph in the office.

"When I came out of the office after completing the formalities, I could not find the seat of my auto. Later I was informed that the traffic police had taken away the seat," he added.

Likewise, in a long queue of vehicles for the inspection at the RTA office, the owners were given challan for no parking. "There was a huge rush on Monday, and I was in a queue for inspection, and traffic policemen came and asked not to stand on the road and click the picture and issued the challan," said Sandeep, a resident of Langar Houz.

Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union General secretary, M Dayanand said this is the failure of the government and transport department that for last several years, the RTA Mehdipatnam is running in a rented space with lack of facilities including the parking space and most of all facilities, they hold the vehicle inspection on roadside also fixes the number plate and several other formalities on roadside. Resulting, the applicants and vehicle owners faced difficulties and were fined with hefty challan by the traffic police.

He pointed out "Not just two-wheelers, four-wheelers, but the RTA department also conducts inspection for goods carriers and other heavy vehicles on the road blocking the traffic flow in the stretch. And, with no space in the surroundings, when the applicant parked their vehicles, traffic police issued the hefty challan and seized their vehicles," he added.

This is not the case with one RTA office but of many in the city, there are a total of 11 RTA offices in Greater Hyderabad, and all the offices have the similar problems.