Truck owners blame non-payment for shortage of vehicles

Sufficient numbers of vehicles could not be requisitioned for the ADC election scheduled on June 1 because the bill for hiring vehicles in the last Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections was not paid in time, alleged the Manipur Truck Owners’ Welfare Association.

Speaking to media persons at their MG Avenue office today, the association’s president H Ranjit said that an adequate number of vehicles were requisitioned by the Transport Department in consultation with transport societies in the last Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections. But the bill for hiring the vehicles was not paid in time. As a result, an adequate number of vehicles could not be hired for the ensuing ADC election.

The inability to requisition an adequate number of vehicles is not a failure of the Transport Department. It is because of lapses on the part of DEOs.

In the last Lok Sabha election, over 600 vehicles were requisitioned for the Tamenglong district but the bill for hiring the vehicles has not been paid to date.

Even as the Tamenglong DEO demanded Rs 51,04,919 in May last year for payment of the same bill, the Election Department has not yet released the same amount.

Whereas the DEO submitted the bill on time, the Election Department took almost one year to check the bill thereby causing immense troubles to transporters as well as the Transport Department.

Alleging that there is a corrupt official in the office of the CEO and the Joint CEO, H Ranjit demanded the removal of the particular who has been purportedly demanding a certain share of the pending bill.

If the pending bill is not paid, the hiring charge is not revised and the corrupted official is not taken to task, the concerned officials will be taught a befitting lesson in the next Manipur Legislative Assembly likely to be held in 2017, Ranjit added.