Pune rape case has rocked the entire country as a culprit had audacity of committing such heinous crime when the but was just parked 100 meters away from a police station. While the state government is leaving no stone unturned to arrest the absconding criminal, stakeholders are questioning the vigilance by the state authorities. A PTI report states that Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) does not have a Chief Security and Vigilance Officer (CSVO) for almost three years.
MSRTC, one of the largest transporters in the country, used to have IPS officers at CVSO post.
CVSO post is vacant since 2022
After the retirement of CVSO MK Bhosale, a DIG rank officer, on June 30, 2022, the post was transferred to the Pimpri Chinchwad commissionerate as joint commissioner. "The post, which was of IG rank, was downgraded to that of DIG for Bhosale. Since his retirement almost three years ago, the CVSO post in MSRTC is vacant. The post of Chief Security Officer was prevalent since 1949, before the nomenclature was changed to Chief Security and Vigilance Officer," an official told PTI.
The post used to be manned by senior Indian Police Service officers at one point of time considering its importance, he said.
"The post was earlier headed by IPS officers like Arvind Inamdar, Bhujangrao Mohite, Ajit Parasnis, Sridevi Goyal, Raja Mangaonkar, and others. But now the additional charge of the post is with Nandkumar Kolarkar, who is General Manager of Mechanical Engineering," the official said.
Kolarkar also has additional charge as General Manager (Stores and Purchases), the official said underlining the way the important post of CVSO has fared at the public transporter. "One officer is handling three posts simultaneously. Considering the massive security and vigilance-related work at MSRTC, the post must have an officer of IG rank," the official asserted.
MSRTC has 252 bus depots across the 36 districts of the state, which consists of 31 divisions with 36 workshops, the official said. The security of those assets is with 2700 security guards, who are appointed by Security Guards Board and Maharashtra Ex-Servicemen Corporation Limited (MESCO), he said, adding that among those around 150 security guards are of MSRTC.
MSRTC has more than 15,000 buses in its fleet, down from the earlier 18,500. There were no purchases of new buses for the last five years, but now 2500 new buses have been procured, of which 300 have been introduced in the fleet, official said.
(PTI inputs)