The Regional Transport Office (RTO) have adopted a lenient attitude towards clamping down on violations by Vikram tempos being operated in violation of the permit norms. Even after completion of 12 days of the ongoing checking drive, RTO officials have been able to seize only six Vikram tempos found defying the permit regulation.
President of Vikram Jankalyan Sewa Samiti (VJSS), Satish Sharma said that “We had already submitted a proposal to the RTO officials regarding amendment to be done in the stage carrier permit and to allow the same permit to the Vikram tempo operators.” He added that the VJSS members had also appealed to the high court and would hopefully get a status quo according to which the Vikram tempos would be allowed to function in the same state holding the same permit as per which they were being operated for the last 33 years.
However, Sharma also claimed that though the RTO officials have continued their checking drive, they are not acting that strictly as they were in the initial stage of the drive. later he added that this might be due to their meeting held with the Transport Commissioner Umakant Panwar last week.
According to the sources in the RTO, since the start of the checking drive as many as 85 challans have been imposed on the Vikram tempo operators found flouting the permit norms and around six Vikram tempos have been seized. Penalties have also been levied on these Vikram operators and many Vikram tempo operators are yet to pay their penalty.
Meanwhile, Additional Regional Transport Officer ARTO (Administration), Sandeep Saini informed that the proposal has already been received from the union members. But any further decision would only be taken after the unscheduled meeting of the Regional Transport Authority.
However, Saini also claimed that the checking drive would be continued and the violators would also be penalised Rs 5,000 till any final decision is taken on this issue. It is pertinent to be mention that around 794 Vikrams tempos are being operated in the State capital and all are valid permit holders, claimed the union members. Whereas Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal, president of Parade Ground, Parwal, Premnagar City Bus Union, had earlier stated that out of 1,500-1,600 Vikram tempos operated in the city only 783 are the valid permit holders.