By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: It took a committed civil servant in Assam to clean up the mess in the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) and turn it around. This does not appear to be of concern in Meghalaya. The Meghalaya Transport Corporation continues in business as usual mode with no attempt to cut losses in the Corporation.
Sources in the Corporation allege that the Swaraj Mazda vehicle provided for use as an ambulance in case of a highway accident, has been turned instead into a vehicle for carying vehicle spare parts. The vehicle No ML 01-1523 is now languishing in the MTC workshop at Demthring.
It is also learnt that eight night supers which are only three years old have deteriorated to such a point that their bodies are being rebuilt at a workshop in Kamrup, Assam at a cost of Rs 6.5 lakh each. Sources wondered why the MTC which has such a huge workshop should send their vehicles elsewhere for repair. Those in the know said the roof of the night supers were already leaking from the time they arrived at Shillong.
Sources further allege that a Star Bus No. ML 03-0165, which met with an accident in 2007, has now disappeared from the scene. No one knows where the vehicle is and no one cares.
On 18 and 19 July, two of the rickety buses of the MTC, ML 03 – 0177 and 0176, broke down on two consecutive days while carrying passengers to the airport. The stranded passengers had a tough time finding another vehicle. Passengers lamented at the sorry plight of the vehicles which they said are so dilapidated, they are no longer fit for use.
Sources claim that whenever the MTC buses are reserved by any private party no record is kept and about the use of the vehicle, how many kilometres it has clocked and what the charges are.
Money that comes by way of reservation allegedly goes into private pockets. They also wonder why the MTC has no materials to repair their own vehicles and why they have to be sent outside the State or allowed to turn to junk at the workshop.
The MTC also has its own tanker but instead of using that, sources allege that tankers from elsewhere bring the fuel to the MTC. Internal sources have also claimed that there are no records about rents received from the shops and other commercial establishments given out on rent at Khyndailad.
Meanwhile, when these issues were brought before Transport Minister AT Mondal, he said the Corporation requires to be kept under a vigilant eye and for that a Chairman is very important. It may be reminded that Chitlang Pale, the former Chairman, MTC was recently been sworn is as a minister. But sources allege that some officials have been in the Corporation for too long and are deeply entrenched in corruption.
