The land is in the name of the government, the ticket sales are in the name of the government, the parking space is on government land but the money accrued from the government assets does not go into the government treasury. It is a scam that is happening right under the nose of the babus but no one is complaining, for everybody gets a piece of the pie.

The money from parking fee, ticket sales of RTA forms, rents from the canteens and shops in the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) offices in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts, numbering close to a dozen, goes directly into the account of the Transport Department Employees Cooperative Society but should actually go into the State government treasury.

Sample this: The learning licence forms, permanent licence form, transfer of ownership form, NOC and many other forms printed at the Chanchalguda Press were given free of cost to customers at one point of time. But now these application forms are sold at Rs 2 per form and on an average about 250-300 forms are sold each day from each of the 12 RTA offices in both districts.

C Chandrasekhar, organising secretary, Telangana Auto Trade Union, says, “The Society gets close to Rs 2 lakh per month just by the sale of forms. The Society gets lakhs of rupees in parking fee as well. Where is the money going and how is it being spent? I have filed a complaint on May 7 but there is no response from the department.”

The Society was formed in 2003 and ever since the money earned from the RTAs is going into its account. Joint Transport Commissioner T Raghunath however says “The employees union prints forms and maintains the gardens. It also provides loans to employees.” Right from the joint transport commissioner to senior assistants to lower rung officials of the department are part of the Society.

When asked about the allegation that the Society is not depositing the amount to the government, Arun, treasurer of the Society, said, “The Society does not come under the RTI Act and the money is spent to maintain the gardens at the RTA offices and a per cent is set aside for charity. Every day certain amount of the seized vehicles at various RTA offices gets released. Hundreds of seized vehicles are parked at Nagole testing track, the rental for autos it is Rs 20 per day, Rs 30 for car and Rs 50 for lorries.

Every day about 20 vehicles are released and the amount collected varies between Rs 3,000 to Rs 15,000 per vehicle depending on the number of days it was parked. C Chandrasekhar asks, “The Society gets lakhs of rupees per month just from parking fee. Does it take lakhs to look after gardens and not all RTA offices have a garden to maintain.” Raghu, an agent at Tirumalgherry RTA, says, “They even charge parking fee for those who come for a fitness test.”

The Society also collects rents from the canteen and shops at the different RTA offices. While the office bearers do not want to share the information and say that they do not come under the purview of RTI Act, the top brass too is keeping quiet. “The parking space at Kukatpally for long distance lorry drivers is on government land was allotted for drivers to rest but the union collects parking fee even there. “It is open day-light robbery,” says Srinivas a lorry driver.