Drivers of commercial vehicles, which are running amok on city roads, can soon lose their rights to ply in Delhi. According to Delhi Traffic Police, registration certificates of 6,112 commercial vehicles, including buses, auto rickshaws and grameen sewas, may get suspended. Police, by sending the challan records of these vehicles to the Transport Department, have requested the Transport Department to take punitive action against offenders.
The offenders’ list comprises 5,054 buses, which have been booked under permit condition violations between January 30 and October 31. The list also includes 1,058 repeat offenders of traffic rules. These repeat violators have been prosecuted in the last two months. Traffic Police, earlier, did not have any procedure to find out the number of repeat traffic violators and the number of times an offender had violated a particular rule. Commercial vehicles had been taking advantage of this loophole.
Traffic Police have noticed rampant violations, including buses and vans not following the routes allotted to them in their permits, overloading and private vehicles also being used for commercial purposes. Similarly, autos and taxis refusing to ferry passengers is also considered to be a violation under the permit conditions. Using the e-challan method, Traffic Police have booked 161 commercial vehicles plying without a valid permit, 304 cases of commercial vehicles driven by people without a driving licence, 162 cases of vehicles found without fitness certificates and 429 cases of permit violations. This year, Traffic Police have requested the Transport Department to cancel the permits of 5,054 buses.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Anil Shukla said, “Using the e-challan system we have been able to keep a record of repeat violators in various types of traffic violations. The record of commercial vehicles is being regularly shared with the Transport Department so that the regular offenders can face punitive action of getting their permits suspended.”