Despite the orders of the Supreme Court, Uttarakhand High Court and State Government, the transport department allows the illegalities in the operation of three-wheeler vehicles like Vikram and electric rickshaws in Dehradun which is questionable, said the president of Dehradun Mahanagar City Bus Seva Mahasangh, Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal.
According to him, the department has issued a notice to the Vikram association stating that all the operators will run their vehicles as per the contract carriage permit issued to them and if anyone is found to be violating the rules, the department will take action against them. Furthermore, the transport secretary had also sent a notice to the additional regional transport officer (ARTO) Arvind Pandey concerning this matter and asked him to investigate the matter, said Dandriyal.
However, he added, the department takes such momentary decisions only when they approach the officials or else the situation continues to remain dreadful. This clearly indicates the occurrence of corrupt practices in the transport department, alleged Dandriyal.
He also alleged that the officials of the transport department are providing protection to the operators of Vikram and e-rickshaws which is leading to the loss of the city bus operators.
Talking about surrendering the city buses to the department, Dandriyal said that the association has given the list of the buses to the department and after doing some paperwork like settling the remaining taxes, the operators will commence surrendering the buses in the next few days.
However, he said that due to the lack of passengers, only three to four buses are currently running in the city while the rest of the buses are standing still at the operators' places for months.
Moreover, he said that the department has told him that they are taking action against the illegalities and the situation will get better in a few days. Hence, when the situation will actually get better, the operators will resume the operation of the buses, added Dandriyal.
He said that the association will be bound to approach the High Court if the department fails to curb the violation of rules by the three-wheeler operators in the city.