Stalemate over; C-Dit resumes services to MVD as govt ensures payment of pending amount

Thiruvananthapuram: Following the government’s assurance that the pending amount would be paid soon, the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-Dit) has decided to resume services to the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD). C-Dit had announced to stop services, which they had been providing for the last 12 years to MVD as the pending amount had reached around Rs 10 crores. Their withdrawal had badly affected the functioning of RTO offices across the state. With the government’s assurance, C-Dit has instructed 200 contract employees to return to duty from Friday onwards.

As C-Dit had called back their workers, all the services of MVD were disrupted, with the  computer-related services and housekeeping services across small and large RTO offices in the state suffering. The government, recognising the worsening situation, entrusted K. Vasuki, Transport Secretary, to hold discussions with C-Dit, as the post of Transport Commissioner remains vacant.

An emergency meeting was convened on Thursday to convince C-Dit of the importance of continuing their services, as the public would suffer which in turn would affect the government as well. Following the discussion, C-Dit was willing to compromise to keep the system running smoothly. The amount to be paid to C-Dit must be sanctioned by the Finance Department.

It is said that the file related to the sanctioning of funds to C-Dit got stuck due to the  tussle between Transport Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar and Transport Commissioner S. Sreejith. Since the submitted file was not in order, the Finance Department withheld the amount pending to MVD, complicating matters further.

MVD has been charging service fees from the public for setting up computers in their offices for the last 15 years. This amount goes directly to the government treasury. MVD relies on this money to cover its expenses. The current financial crunch is due to delays in receiving this amount on time. As of now, MVD contributes around Rs. 12 crore daily in taxes, fees, and service charges.