The Telegraph: Ranchi: Wednesday, April 1, 2015.
The March 26 arrest of Hazaribagh district transport officer (DTO) Vinod Kumar, for allegedly minting money in exchange for licences, permits and the like, points to how deeply corruption is entrenched in the system as mid-level babus live king-size and run a parallel governance machinery with middlemen.
Though the quantum of bribe money has not been ascertained, it is likely to be in the legion of crores, as Hazaribagh's location, with 200km of highways passing through the district as well as GT Road from Barhi to Barkathha, a 52km run, makes it a gold mine.
Besides licences and registration for vehicles, both fixed routes of bribe money, big cash comes from staying blind to heavy vehicles entering the district with contraband items.
Hazaribagh's Nitesh Tiwary (38) got a real-life taste of the DTO's system when he found his driving licence, renewed every year since 1994, scrapped in October 2014.
When Tiwary contacted DTO Kumar, the official said that according to his date of birth, May 10, 1977, he got his licence in 1994 when he was underage.
"When I said I did not know about that and why I am being punished for it at 38, DTO Kumar told me to talk to a man standing at the entrance of his office. The middleman said as the office was computerised, renewing my licence wasn't possible but he could help me get a new one if I paid him Rs 2,600," Tiwary, who filed an application under RTI Act to know how the system is supposed to work and job rates, fumed.
Raju Kumar, who runs a pathology centre at Devi Mandap Road, told The Telegraph he paid Rs 2,500 to get his new driving licence through a middleman 15 days ago. "Renewals cost some Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200."
The office situated near the district collectorate has rates of different works painted on its front wall but they are a decade old. As middlemen had full control of the office, no one bothered to put up fresh rates.
So, what is the official rate for a new licence and for a renewal? After some hemming and hawing, an employee at the DTO's office in Hazaribagh told The Telegraph: "A new licence comes for Rs 1,100 and renewal costs Rs 260."
The life and times of Hazaribagh DTO Kumar, arrested for graft by Vigilance Bureau and now cooling his heels at Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, are peppered with many anecdotes like these.
And, the DTO was not alone, as an army of middlemen and errand boys, numbering around 200, took a percentage of the ill-gotten earnings.
A man at the office of the DTO, who did not want to reveal his name, laughed. "Corruption was going on at the DTO for a long time, everyone was happy, including middlemen and customers. Why blame DTO Kumar alone? Supply exists because of demand."
Sources said DTO Kumar engaged his driver Suraj Kumar to finalise the more lucrative deals. In first week of November last year, a goods laden truck was caught in Atka. Kumar gave a mobile phone number to driver Shankar Lal of Madhya Pradesh asking him to talk to that person and get his vehicle released. The number was of Suraj, who demanded Rs 20,000 for its release.
Unfortunately, Suraj was caught red-handed accepting this amount in November. When, on November 11 last year, Vigilance raided his office, Kumar escaped. On December 19, he rejoined, flaunting his "political connections in Ranchi".
Asked why it took three more months since December to arrest DTO Kumar, state Vigilance Bureau boss inspector-general (IG) M.L. Meena denied "pressure" but said they wanted to collect foolproof evidence before booking the senior official.
"After the new government (read Raghubar Das) took charge, Vigilance Bureau has been given a free hand to book corrupt officials. I don't know anything about Kumar's political connections. All I can tell you is that I have not received any sifarish (recommendation) calls or messages from any one for Kumar."
Asked about his reputation, senior officials at the state transport department where Kumar reported to transport secretary-cum-commissioner Ratan Kumar, called Kumar "an effective officer".
"He was effective and active," said a former DC of Hazaribagh under whom Kumar worked. "I did not know about his illegal activities."
What bureaucrats know but won't possibly say is that it is tough for a DTO to stay clean in a system where everyone is minting money.
During the tenure of Anosh Ekka as transport minister, enforcement inspectors, popularly known as mobile darogas, subordinates to the DTOs, had huge clout. In Jamshedpur, a mobile daroga used to keep a personal army for collection of bribes along Jamshedpur-Ranchi and Jamshedpur-Baharagora stretches.
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