HYDERABAD: P Swati Goud, a former Google employee with a degree in Industrial engineering, working with the RTA since 2014, has been placed under suspension, after emergence of a CCTV footage of the official and her hired bouncers manhandling a truck driver.
Truck owners have long been complaining against increasing instances of corruption at Telangana state Regional Transport Authority (RTA). The suspension of an RTA official on alleged corruption charges on Wednesday seems to have brought some cheers to the lorry owners.
Shortly after Express attempted to get in touch with Swathi on Facebook seeking her side of the story, the official suspended her account.On Monday, AMVI P Swati Goud had told media, “As soon as he (Srikanth) arrived, he indulged in verbal duel. Before his arrival, I had booked a case and I did not ask for bribe. I was doing my job, but the lorry owner used abusive language and misbehaved with me.”
“The CCTV footage is being considered as an evidence and the lorry association approached the LB Nagar police. The case was further strengthened after the Secunderabad RTO filed a report to the principal secretary of transport on the issue after which a six months suspension was given,” said T Ragunath, joint transport commissioner, RTA. An inquiry will now be done and an officer will be assigned, who will then file a final report to the principal secretary, he added.
“The driver was fined a challan of `5,000 which he refused to pay after which the bouncers manhandled him. Ideally she should have used the home guards or taken help from the police to conduct a checking,” said another RTA official. This is the first instance of such an offense coming to our notice, the official added.
However, truck owners disagree, “The corruption on the roads is very high, the rates depend on the overloading it can go from `2,000 to `20,000 and when they release the vehicle they demand another `2,000 or `5,000, this is after we pay the court fines,” said said N Bhaskar Reddy, president of Telangana Lorry Owners and Drivers Association. Its not the transport departments or the government fault that some of the individual officers are corrupt, he added.
“We also get threats of being charged under SC/ST cases if we refuse to pay the bribes,” said Reddy.
“Now imagine if there is an allegation against a lorry driver by a lady officer? What defence do we have,” he wondered.