JALANDHAR: The Kartar Bus Service, owned by the Punjab Excise and ‘Taxation Minister, Mr. Avtar Henry, tops the list of transport companies playing buses illegally, according to a survey conducted by the Punjab road ways on some of the most lucrative ‘routes in the state.
‘The survey was conducted from January 1518 to expose the extent of ‘unauthorized bus services operating in the state, and its details have been ‘sent to the state transport department for action.
For these four days, Roadways inspectors collected details of all private buses plying without valid route permits, on. Jalandhar Ludhiana Patiala, the Jalandhar Amritsar Batala and the Jalandhar Pathankot Dasuya sections and discovered that about 500 unauthorized buses, belonging to scores of transport companies, were running on these routes. Acting on the basis of these findings, the Regional Authority has also sent notices to some of the erring companies, it is learnt.
‘The survey also found that the most sought after route was the Jalandhar Ludhiana Patiala one on which 263 unauthorized buses were found plying, of which 40’ were owned by the Kamar Bus Service, which had only four permits per day for this route.
‘While 214 private buses were found plying illegally on the Jalandhar Amritsar Beas Batala section, 15 were found on the Jalandhar Pathankot Dasuya route.
‘The other transport companies which figure high on the list include Kalgidhar Tejwi Highways with 35 uses, the Walia Transport, Phagwara, with 29, the Rana Bus Service Phagwara, with 23, the Dapayee Transport company Amritsar with the Burigill Transport Company with 12, the Tridev with 14 and the eras Bus Service, Kapurthala, with Interestingly, the survey also revealed that 28 buses of the Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan government transport undertakings were also plying illegally on these routes. ‘These buses pay no taxes at all, leading to a huge revenue loss to the government.
‘When contacted, Mr, Avtar Henry, who is also president of the Private Association of Punjab, denied that any bus of his company was playing without permits. He claimed that this campaign had been unleashed ‘at the behest of his political opponents, in a bid to malign his reputation, ‘He charged, “All these people, including the Roadways officials, are now forgetting that during days of militancy, when no one dared to venture on the roads of Punjab, my buses rendered invaluable service to the people.”
Officers of the Roadways point out that though they have been protesting against violations by private transporters, the state’s enforcement genies have been ignoring them. The large number of illegal buses doing brisk business is also being seen as an indication for the government to implement the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act 198889, according to which any bus operator who applies for a permit should be granted ‘one.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 21, 1996
