The district transport department has initiated a drive against Vikrams that are more than seven years old. The Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Sudhanshu Garg has ordered seizure of all Vikrams that are older than seven years. This decision comes in wake of Regional Transport Authority (RTA) meeting held recently. The RTA had mandated that Vikrams with only Bharat Stage IV specification would be registered and issued fitness certificates. In such a scenario the Vikram operators would have to purchase new vehicles or convert their old vehicles to CNG in order to meet the new emission norms. The association Vikram operators are opposing the drive against old Vikrams. The secretary of the association Gurman Singh said that in the RTA meeting the petrol vehicles which are 12 year old and 10 year old diesel Vikrams were allowed to operate but the department is now working in a tyrannical way. The transport department has however clarified that the above mentioned criteria was for the rural areas and for city limits Vikrams that are less than seven year old would be allowed to operate.
The action of the department has created panic among large number of Vikram operators in the provisional state capital. There are hundreds of Vikrams in the city which serve thousands of commuters daily in Dehradun.