Amidst the protest of State roadways employees’ unions against giving permits to the private transport operators, Haryana Government on Tuesday approved its new transport policy.
The new transport policy is likely to spell trouble for Haryana Government, as it has finalised 452 routes to grant permits for plying of private buses. The new State carriage permit scheme 2017 was approved during the cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Manohar lal here.
Under the State Carriage Permit Scheme, any State Transport Undertaking, person or society, firm, company in the State would be eligible to apply for permit on intra-State routes. The permits will be granted as per the terms and conditions fixed by the State Government.
Haryana Government had earlier faced resentment of State roadways employees’ unions over the issuance of permits to private operators on 273 routes in previous State carriage scheme 2016.
Transport Minister Krishan lal Panwar, while talking to the mediapersons on Tuesday maintained that the Government was not going for privatisation of roadways. The new policy has chalked out 452 routes to grant permits for plying of private buses, he added. On improving the roadways infrastructure, the Minister said 300 more buses would be included in the existing fleet of Haryana roadways. Also, more than 2000 employees would be recruited on contract basis in the Transport Department, he added.
The State-run carrier carries lakhs of passengers every day and operates more than 3500 buses across Haryana.
Meanwhile, the decision of the State Government to add more routes for private operators to its new transport policy has attracted severe criticism from the roadways employees’ unions.
The roadways employees on Tuesday held protest at various depots across Haryana for about two hours against Government’s decision to issue permits to private transport operators. The employees’ unions have also announced to intensify their protest if the State Government fails to fill vacant posts in Transport Department and continue to issue permits to private operators under its new policy.
Protesting over the issue of giving permits to private buses under transport policy 2016, the roadways unions had earlier observed one-day strike on June 13 across the state, which had caused inconvenience to lakhs of commuters besides loss of crores of rupees to the State exchequer. Haryana roadways unions had also observed four days strike in the month of April over the same issue.
Following their protest, the government had agreed to scrap the state carriage scheme 2016 and bring a new policy. On the other hand, the private bus operators had also warned to approach the Court if the State Government fails to give permits to them under its new state carriage scheme.