Agitated owners of Tata Iris transport vehicles raised a commotion at the venue of emergency meeting of Regional Transport Association (RTA) here on Wednesday. Members of many transporter associations gathered at the camp office of Garhwal commissioner in large numbers when they got to know about the emergency meeting of RTA.
The RTA discussed many issues and reserved its judgment. The owners of Tata Iris vehicles got furious when they realised that the issue of granting permit to them did not figure in the agenda of the meeting. They created a ruckus outside the office and raised vociferous slogans. One of the Tata Iris owners laxmi Chand told The Pioneer that owners of 18 such vehicles were waiting for permits from last three years. He said the Transport department was giving fitness certificate and charging tax on them but was not issuing permits.
Chand informed that the Transport department officials regularly harassed with them and demand bribe from them in absence of permits. The owners of Tata Maximo vehicles also demanded that the department should allot routes to them. The members of Rishikesh Auto Union protested against the department’s plan to grant more permits on already crowded Haridwar-laxman Jhula route.
The members of Vikram association said that the department should specify colours to the Vikrams operating in different routes. The chairman of RTA Garhwal Commissioner CS Napalchiyal said that the meeting discussed the pending court cases and various other issues. The Regional Transport Officer (RTO) of Dehradun Dinesh Chandra Pathoi and Assistant RTO Sandeep Saini were present during the meeting.