BHOPAL: Heavy rains that lashed the city on Thursday took a heavy toll on records and documents kept at the regional transport office (RTO).The vital papers were soaked with water seeping from the ceilings and walls of Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (MPRTC) building. According to an employee who maintains the records, there are more than four lakh files in the building, out of which at least half of them have been soiled by the rain.An employee said, “The building is already dilapidated and the rain has added to our woes. We have been complaining about it to the higher officials, but no action has been taken so far. Recently, a wall of MPRTC building fell down after which entry towards that part of the building was blocked. About three years ago, I had informed the officials that the condition of building is poor and rainwater was seeping inside the building, damaging records. In last three years, more than half of the records have been damaged by rainwater.”When TOI visited the records building, the wet files were found lying on the floor. An employee claimed that there is only one person to maintain the whole building.He said, “Whenever I have to go somewhere, even for the loo, I have to ask someone to take my seat so that no one enters the building. I have to maintain the files all alone, due to shortage of staff. These records are important and daily I get around 50 requests for old files which I am able to give only the next day as it takes at least a day to find a file here.”Gudwant Savetkar, finance officer of RTO Bhopal , said: “The building belongs to MPRTC due to which we cannot renovate it. We had asked the MPRTC officials to get the building repaired but they did not take any action. Even the life of employees of MPRTC is at risk as the condition of the building is poor.”

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