SHILLONG: Representatives of Jaintia Hills based pressure groups have set a seven-day deadline for the State Transport Authority (STA) to provide replies to RTI queries on the weighbridges operating at Ratacherra in East Jaintia Hills.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Khasi Jaintia National Union (KJNU) president Niman N. Shadap said, “We filed an RTI on April 21 but till date the Public Information Officers of the District Transport Office (DTO), East Jaintia Hills has not provided any reply on the operation of the weighbridges at Ratacherra.”
Stating that the money collected by the people manning the weighbridge of the Transport department was illegal, he said, “The truck drivers complain that amount collected ranges from Rs 200 to Rs 300 whereas according to the Meghalaya Installation Regulation Maintenance & Operation of Weighbridges, 2009 and 2015, the amount collected should range from Rs 20 to Rs 50 depending on the nature of vehicle including light motor vehicles, medium, goods vehicle and heavy goods vehicle.”
“However there is no proof to their claims as the people at the weighbridge do not provide any receipt and hence we had to file an RTI but it has been two months and we are still waiting for the reply,” Shadap said.
Kyrshan Rymbai, president, Pnar Students’ Union said if the STA fails to provide replies to the RTI, they will file a PIL in the High Court of Meghalaya.
Demanding immediate closure of the ‘illegal’ weighbridge, both KJNU and PSU asked the State government to clarify on how the money is distributed after it is collected from the truck drivers. They further demanded that magistrates should be deputed at Ratacherra to curb the illegal collection.
