The City bus association has blamed the senior transport department officers for spreading canard regarding conversion of some contract carriage vehicles to stage carriage. A delegation of the association led by its president Vijay Vardhan Dandariyal met the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) of Dehradun, Dinesh Chandra Pathoi on Friday and said that the departmental plan to grant permit of seven passengers and one driver (7+1) to Vikrams and Tata Magic is illegal as per the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act. The delegation also submitted a copy of the act underlining the relevant clauses of the act. The president of the association said that the act is very clear in its definition of stage carriage vehicles and any attempt to tweak it for giving selective favour would be opposed. The delegation appreciated the departmental campaign against overloading and picking up retail commuters on selected routes. It insisted that such campaign should be regular affair so that illegal vehicles do not ply on the roads of city. It is worth mentioning here that the departmental campaign had brought it with logger heads with the powerful association of Vikram operators recently.
The delegation of City Bus association also blamed the department for taking partisan action on enforcing dress code of drivers and conductors on the city buses while sparing other vehicles. Dandariyal said that the departmental plea for not enforcing dress code on Vikrams is that there is no such code for them however the M V act notifies contract carriage vehicles as tourist vehicles and mandates a proper summer and winter uniform for drivers of such vehicles.