Maha: Only 2 posts of special cell for road safety filled in 2 yrs

Two years after a special cellfor road safety was created in Maharashtra under the transportcommissioner office, 14 out of its total 16 posts are stilllying vacant, officials have said.State Transport Minister Anil Parab, however,attributed this delay to the coronavirus pandemic.Maharashtra is one of the worst-hit states in terms ofroad accidents.

Two years after a special cellfor road safety was created in Maharashtra under the transportcommissioner office, 14 out of its total 16 posts are stilllying vacant, officials have said.

State Transport Minister Anil Parab, however,attributed this delay to the coronavirus pandemic.

Maharashtra is one of the worst-hit states in terms ofroad accidents. In 2020, the state had witnessed 25,456 roadaccidents and 11,452 fatalities.

Officials in the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Departmentsaid that acting on the Supreme Court's directive, the stategovernment had set up the lead agency (special cell) for roadsafety in December 2018 to handle the state-wide road safety-related activities and created 16 new posts, including a jointtransport commissioner (Road Safety) for it.

Of these, five posts are supposed to be filled ondeputation, whereas the remaining supervisory and clericalposts were on contractual basis, the officials said.

The five posts of the officers that should be filledthrough deputation are- joint transport commissioner, deputytransport commissioner, assistant commissioner of police,executive engineer (PWD) and public relations officer.

A senior official said that so far, only two of theseposts- that of assistant commissioner of police and executiveengineer- have been filled, while the remaining three postsare lying vacant.

''The additional charge of the remaining three vacantposts were given to other officers of the transportcommissioner office, who were already under burden ofadditional charge of some other posts,'' he said.

Another officer said that 11 other posts that have tobe filled on contract basis are also lying vacant and some RTOinspectors and clerks from the transport commissioner officewere given the responsibility of these posts.

A retired officer said that the transport commissioneroffice is trying to appoint a senior consultant for roadsafety on contract basis even as the regular posts created forthe lead agency are lying vacant.

An advertisement for the post was issued in October2020.

''What this senior consultant is going to do when therequired posts of officers and staffers of the lead agency arevacant? Whom will he give advice?'' he asked.

When asked about the vacant posts of the lead agency,minister Parab said the last one year got ''wasted'' due tocoronavirus pandemic, due to which the posts kept lyingvacant.

''I would like to assure that the cell (lead agency)will work with full force this year,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)