PANAJI
Important files and documents which were allegedly destroyed in the fire that broke out at the Panaji bus stand affecting the offices of the Regional Transport Authority on October 2 were discovered by The Goan Everyday callously dumped along the Old Goa Ribandar road a few metres from the Merces circle.
While some of the documents were burnt and destroyed many other undamaged confidential papers lay lying on the road amidst the other garbage dumped. Copies of residential and identification proofs like Aadhaar Card, Election card, passport along with other documents like notarised applications for vehicle transfer, Vehicle Registration Certificate book, insurance papers, documents proving vehicle ownership of various private companies were thrown along the road side with easy access to any passer by.
The fire had severely affected the work of the RTO offices with the offices being closed for three days as the officers assessed the damage. The unsightly dump has raised questions of the propriety of the government in discarding these documents including questions over whether these dumped documents were scrutinised or not or were discarded en masse having been left for dead.
On Thursday morning labourers were seen trying to hurriedly disperse the documents and clear the site either by pushing them further in the fields with there being no efforts to sort the undamaged documents from the damaged ones. Other labourers were also seen attempting to ‘cover up' the documents with mud and other debris.
Transport Dept blames it on labourers, says documents are computerised
PANAJI: The State Directorate of Transport has clarified that the registration and other records of the office are computerised since 2006 and are maintained in a computerised system.
"There is a misunderstanding in the minds of the public that records have been destroyed in the fire", said the release.
In reply to a news channel with regard to the disposal of burnt records, the Directorate of Transport has clarified that it was the labourers who had disposed off the burnt papers at the side of the road unknowingly and the same has been cleared.
The Directorate of Transport reiterated that all the records are safe in computerised system, and only the manual records have been burnt and the same have been disposed.
