Even the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Jaipur has taken its biggest action to date, wherein it has given notice to suspend the permits of 1,596 city buses that were found to be operating out of their permissible routes in the city.
The crackdown is under Section 86 of the Motor Vehicles Act, the abuse of permits and routing that has made a mess of the well-regulated transport system in the city.
Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, the RTO Jaipur First, disclosed that these buses were incurring normal regular operation in the industrial, factory, and suburban areas, though they had been awarded the city transport permission. Such Out-of-Route Deployments are not only against the transport regulations, but also have an impact on the efficiency and the availability of public transport to the local commuters within the Jaipur city limits.
Breach of Permission of Misuse Costs Money to the Government
Abuse of permits has proven to be one of the most concerning findings of this move since it caused the government to lose its revenue. A city permit charged on a bus is only Rs 4,200 per year. These buses, however, should be registered to enjoy either the factory or suburban permits to pay Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per month for each of the buses. This is a loss and has made the Rajasthan Transport Department lose crores in the process.
Suspension Notices Under the Motor Vehicles Act
All the 1,596 bus operators have now received official permission suspension notices by the RTO. Such actions are within Section 86 where the transport authority has the powers to cancel or suspend permits in case of terms and conditions breach.
The intention of the move is to bring back legal operations, stop indirect flow of ill-gotten profits, and empower the revenue system in the long term.
What This Implies to Public Transport
Although this implementation may temporarily halt selected transport services beyond the city boundaries, the authorities believe that the process of putting buses back onto their allocated routes in rural areas would enhance commuting in the city of Jaipur.
The move also serves as a strong condemnation to the commercial exploitation of subsidised schemes of public transport.
RTO has cried on all permit holders to strictly observe the route regulations or suffer the same legal and financial consequences, in future.
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