He was talking to reporters on his arrival to the city in a bicycle jatha to create awareness on environment. The jatha with 70 participants is being held in between Bangalore and Ooty.

“The public need to spend at least Rs 100 to reach the new RTO office. This will be too much of inconvenience. Even now the Department is ready to construct the new office near teh city if the district administration allots land. The issue will be discussed with the District-in-Charge Minister and the Deputy Commissioner,” he said.
Answering a query in connection with the delay in handing over the present RTO office to the General Thimmaiah Memorial Building, Rao said the works are not yet complete since the State government is yet to release the grant.

‘Compromise’
When the Commissioner’s attention was drawn on  the taxi owners and drivers opposition towards changing the colour of the number plates, he said all should obey the order from the view of law. However, it is proper to make certain compromise if the order is troubling daily.

wagers working in coffee plantations, he said.
Regarding the unhealthy competition between private and KSRTC buses in the district, he said the Deputy Commissioner and the RTO should take a decision on the same in the RTA meeting.

The Transport Department is being upgraded in phases. Karnataka is the first place in the nation in distributing smart cards. The programme has commenced in 55 centres across the State. Besides, all offices are being computerised. There are 2500 computers with the department now, which had only 65 in July, he explained.
When there are 16 lakh vehicles registered with the department, there were 2,500 personnel. But the vehicle number has shot up to 80 lakh. But the personnel is only 1950. It is an obstacle in revenue collection. However, the revenue collection has gone up to 105 per cent in 2009-10, Rao explained.

The officials of the department received the jatha that came from Mysore via Hassan and Shanivarasanthe. The jatha will reach Ooty on Wednesday after visiting Bhagamandala, Srimangala, Sulthan Batthery in Kerala.  The total distance the jatha covers is 900 km in between Bangalore and Ooty. The participants include 15 Germans and 12 women.