Saumya Pandey, who was holding the post of ARTO in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, was found guilty in a departmental investigation and on charges of corruption, after which she has been attached to the Lucknow headquarters. This action has been taken after the investigation report done by the District Magistrate and ADM, SP City. ARTO Soumya Pandey was recently under the influence of administration and change, due to which she acted arbitrarily.
During this period, Saumya Pandey had done many wrong things including making illegal recovery from trucks and forcibly taking money from drivers. Pankaj Singh, resident of Buxar, Bihar, and Vipin Babu, resident of Lucknow, had complained about this to the Chief Secretary. In such a situation, on the instructions of the government, the DM got the entire matter investigated by the ADM, SP City and RTO Varanasi and the entire matter was found correct in the investigation, after which this action was taken against Soumya Pandey.
ARTO Soumya Pandey issued challan for overloading of many trucks in the month of August. During this time, Soumya had demanded more than Rs 50,000 through her driver and another person. However, when the driver did not pay the money, on the request of the ARTO, the driver and his colleague even opened the axle of the truck and deposited it in the RTO office. After this, when the driver reached the RTO office, he found Excel kept in their office and at that time policemen of PRB 112 were also present.
Action was taken by calling ARTO of Ballia
Apart from this, recently, when Transport Minister Dayashankar Singh was going from Ballia to Lucknow, he himself caught overloaded trucks near Kasimabad. In such a situation, he called ARTO Soumya Pandey to take action, but even after several hours, she did not reach. After this, Transport Minister Dayashankar Singh called the ARTO of Ballia and took action against those trucks.
Soumya is on medical leave
Soumya Pandey had hired a personal driver, who used to take illegal recovery money from truck owners over the phone and in cash. Saumya Pandey’s driver Satyendra Yadav and outsider Kanhaiya were also found guilty in the case. According to the complainant, on February 2, 2024, the ARTO and the driver stopped the truck going from Buxar to Azamgarh. After finding all the documents correct, it was shown overloaded and parked at the police post.
On the demand of the ARTO driver, Pankaj Singh sent ₹ 50,000 on PhonePe, after which a receipt of ₹ 250 was issued and the vehicle was released. Dozens of such cases were registered against the ARTO of Ghazipur, about which complaints were being continuously made to the government. Saumya Pandey has been on medical leave for the last one and a half months.
