Clearing the air on the rumours about transport department about to ban the use of commercial vehicles 10 years of older, Dehradun Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Dinesh Pathoi said that considering the deteriorating air quality, National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given some orders. Based on those orders Regional Transport Authority (RTA) will be conducting a meeting soon, and the decision will be taken after the discussions in the meeting. On the other hand transport union members have said that only commercial vehicles cannot be blamed for the increasing air pollution in the region. Dehradun Mahanagar City Bus Sewa Union also tied black ribbons on their arms and protested against the state authorities on Tuesday.
The president of Union, Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal said, “About two lakh vehicles across the state will be directly affected if the authorities take such a decision without taking proper measures beforehand. These two lakh commercial vehicles are the source of income for the families of driver, conductor and the motor vehicle owner. In addition to that there are those who make puncture, mechanics and people who do denting painting on the vehicles, they will also get affected by the decision. The authorities need to understand that the magnitude of this decision means that all the vehicles manufactured before the year 2010 will be of no use, lakhs of people will be unemployed.”
He further added, “This plan appears to be an agenda of the government and authorities to profit some manufacturers or dealers. The question is what will happen to the commercial vehicles which will operate in the region from outer states, which are older than 2010 model where there is no ban on such vehicles? Will the authorities stop them from operating inside the region also? The same has happened earlier with the concept of speed governors.”
Treasures of district Vikram Union, Kuldeep Choudhary said, “Our Vikrams usually have a modulation of 15 years and we plan our budget accordingly. If they ban all commercial vehicles without giving us proper time period, maximum number of our people will be unemployed. Earlier also the authorities were talking about CNG model Vikrams or electrical vehicles, but till now there is no proper infrastructure. There is not even a single charging station in Dehradun. If this decision comes into place, the entire transport Mahasangh will protest against it.”
It is pertinent to mention here that the RTA was earlier going to conduct meeting on November 4, but due to the ongoing model code of conduct for the Panchayati Raj elections, the transport secretary postponed the meeting. Now the meeting is likely to be held around November 20.