Although the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) at the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) Ashok Kumar had earlier claimed that a committee of RTO officials and police personnel has been formed for ensuring the desired use of the newly constructed bus shelters in the State capital, when enquired about this, officials concerned explicitly denied having received any instructions regarding it.
On Tuesday, Kumar said that a meeting was held about a year ago and RTO officials and police personnel were asked to issue necessary instructions to the public transporters and to inform them about the mandatory guidelines to be followed in respect to the picking of passengers, especially from the newly constructed bus shelters.
However, when asked about the committee details, SP Traffic Pradeep Rai, informed that he is unaware of any news about the formation of any such committee and added that he had not yet received any instructions related to designating place to the transporters for picking up and dropping passengers.
As per Kumar, RTO officials were also present in the meeting which was held around one year back. Meanwhile, Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Dinesh Chandra Pathoi denied being part of any such committee. He said that he has not received any information from the MNA regarding issuance of instruction to the city bus operators.
More dozens of bus shelters have already been installed in the State capital by a Delhi-based company. The company has been given a target of erecting around 70 bus shelters at various areas of the State capital by the MCD.
Ironically, these bus shelters have become mere showpieces and another source of earning through advertisement for the agency as the local transporters have not yet started picking passengers from the designated bus shelters on their routes.
Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal, president of Mahanagar City Bus Mahasangh, said that the bus union members have not received any instructions from the RTO officials yet regarding bus stoppage points. He also said that these bus shelters are erected at wrong places and the commuters themselves do not prefer using these. He said that as soon as some instruction is issued from the RTO officials, they would surely abide by it.