Gaya police check a bike on Friday. Picture by Suman

Gaya, Aug. 26: The district administration has given special powers to the officers of Kotwali, Civil Lines and Rampur police stations to check vehicles to step up security for the coming Pitripaksh Mela. The 17-day-long festival and the tourist season start on September 11.

Inspectors and station house officers of these police stations would have special powers, granted under sections 177 to 190 of the Motor Vehicles Act, till November this year. The powers could be further extended, said sources.

Apart from the drive to check vehicles, the district transport officer (DTO), Surendra Jha, has also ordered seizure of cars, whose owners have defaulted on taxes to the transport department. A list of such vehicles has been made available to motor vehicle inspectors and enforcement officers of the district.

The DTO said: “Around Rs 3.85 crore has been outstanding as tax against 1,079 vehicles. Cases have been lodged against owners of these vehicles. The list of vehicle owners has also been made available to the certificate officers for issuing body warrant and the property attachment order.”

He added that around Rs 2.44 lakh had been collected from 489 people for driving without licence. Around Rs 3.7 lakh had been collected as fine from vehicles that do not have registration numbers. Cases have also been lodged against 63 vehicle owners for violating various norms of the Motor Vehicles Act, like overloading, not having pollution certificate, owner book, insurance and others.

However, the check of vehicles could prove to be a Herculean task for the transport department, as it is suffers from a serious manpower crunch.

Sources said the district transport office is plagued by problems like shortage of employees. In 1993, four posts of assistants were sanctioned for the transport office. Although the workload has increased manifold, the strength has not been increased. Instead there is a shortage: only two assistants have been posted, and only one is working. The other has been transferred outside Gaya, and the DTO has been asked to relieve him.