Having to come early in the morning and wait in the queue only to return home without getting tokens to avail themselves of the services has many people frustrated with the office of the Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) in Thimphu.
RSTA attributes the issue to the shortage of manpower at the service counters and people coming all at once when the office opened beginning of this month after remaining closed for almost two months amid the pandemic. The office says around 57 RSTA officials are deployed in the south since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in March in the country.
People waiting in the queue on Tuesday was quite long. They said they have been coming early in the morning for five days in a row only to return home without getting tokens. However, people visiting the RSTA office today has decreased compared to the past few days. The office said the huge crowd for the past few days was because everyone came all at once when the office opened beginning of this month after remaining closed for about two months amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Desuups assisting RSTA are managing the queue and token. They are issuing 100 tokens till lunch and 50 more after lunch. For the past few days as tokens finished soon people alleged that officials are reserving tokens for their friends and relatives.
However, Desuup coordinator at the RSTA office said they do not reserve tokens for anybody and that they issue it on first come first serve basis to those waiting in the queue. Likewise, RSTA said the chance of officials reserving tokens is very minimal.
“The chance of reserving tokens for friends and relatives is very minimal. Because people are already queued and know their token number and also know which number is after or before them. So it is near to impossible that officials can pick and save tokens for people not in the queue,” said Ugyen Norbu, the Offtg. Director-General of RSTA.
He added that around 57 RSTA officials are deployed in the south amid the Coronavirus pandemic to escort truckers bringing in essential food and medical items from India. This resulted in a shortage of manpower at the regional office in Thimphu and increased service turnaround time leading to a huge crowd waiting in queue outside the office. He also added that the office, therefore, had to seek the assistance of the Desuups to manage the crowd.
“Because we sent around 57 officials to the south, we have only around 12 handling the services which are usually handled by more than 40 officials. We had to weigh and prioritise supplying essential food and medical items over giving services here at the office to the public during this time. And that leaves us no room to call the officials back to the office. Service turnaround time has therefore increased; a task which could be completed in 5 minutes now takes half an hour that is why there is a long queue outside the office. And it was so difficult for us to manage the crowd that we had to seek the support of Dessups for queue management to check if people are using a face mask and scanning the QR code,” he added.
Meanwhile, to enhance service delivery and reduce service turnaround time the RSTA has proposed the Royal Civil Service Commission to recruit eight high school graduates temporarily. If the proposal is approved the office said they will be able to set up additional service counter at the regional office in Thimphu and render services such as driving test even on the weekends. Currently, the office has suspended driving test because of the shortage of manpower. And the office is also planning to launch an app soon to enhance service delivery.
Kipchu and Phub Gyem
