The old Regional Transport Office in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 14: The city will have a second Regional Transport Office (RTO) shortly to reduce the burden on the existing one.

The tentative date for the inauguration of the second RTO is January 17. The office will function from a rented house in Chandrasekharpur.

“We have asked the officials concerned to finish the work as early as possible,” said commerce and transport secretary G. Mathivathanan.

While a regional transport officer has already been appointed, the additional office will have one senior and two junior clerks, one assistant regional transport officer and one motor vehicles inspector. The staff strength will be increased according to the requirement.

Around 7.84 lakh vehicles are registered with the RTO Bhubaneswar. Every year, around 90,000 vehicles are being registered with the RTO. The present office is often crowded with thousands of people visiting every day for some work or the other.

The existing office, which is more than 50 years old, does not have adequate parking space and circulation area. Of the two entry and exits, only one is functioning due to presence of makeshift shops. Similarly, junk vehicles have occupied a substantial portion of the office making it congested during working hours.

The current office issues around 2,500 driving licences and equal number of fitness certificates every month. Similarly, the office registers as many as 4,000 new vehicles monthly besides issuing more than 500 permits every month.

The jurisdiction of the new office will have as many as eight police stations — Mancheswar, Nayapalli, Tamando, Jatani, Infocity, Chandrasekharpur, Khandagiri and Nandankanan — out of the 21 police stations of Bhubaneswar.

The proposal to have a second RTO in Bhubaneswar had got the approval of state finance department in May last year. Three other RTOs at Talcher, Bhanjanagar and Jajpur are also being set up.

“This is a welcome step by the state government. The jurisdiction of Bhubaneswar has been increasing due to rapid development. The present office gets so crowded on working days and lack of manpower at the present office forces us to visit the office frequently for any work,” said Bimal Jena, a resident of Chandrasekharpur.