India News | Bengal Private Bus Operators Urge Govt Not to Withhold CF for Defunct Trackers
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The representative body of private bus operators in West Bengal on Friday said the motor vehicles department is not issuing fitness certificates to over 60 per cent of stage carriages because their vehicle location tracking devices (VLTD) are dysfunctional, as manufacturers have stopped maintaining them and called for relaxing the norms temporarily.
Kolkata, Mar 7 (PTI) The representative body of private bus operators in West Bengal on Friday said the motor vehicles department is not issuing fitness certificates to over 60 per cent of stage carriages because their vehicle location tracking devices (VLTD) are dysfunctional, as manufacturers have stopped maintaining them and called for relaxing the norms temporarily.
In a letter to the state transport department on Thursday, Joint Council of Bus Syndicates secretary Tapan Banerjee urged the department to direct regional transport offices (RTOs) to allow buses on the road despite defunct VLTDs, giving operators time to fix the devices.
Banerjee reminded that the department had assured hassle-free yearly maintenance when the VLTDs were first installed over two years ago, but many manufacturers have stopped responding to operators' calls once the devices malfunctioned.
"The transport department has made it mandatory for stage carriage operators to keep the device operational to issue fresh fitness certificates. We're in a dilemma, and it's causing heavy losses," Banerjee told PTI.
He requested the department to allow buses to continue running while operators work on restoring the VLTDs, preventing long periods of inactivity. He added that if buses are taken off the road, especially during higher secondary exams, it would cause inconvenience for commuters and students.
A senior transport department official said they are trying to resolve the issue, but relaxing the VLTD requirement is not possible, as it was enforced in 2023 under central government guidelines.
The bus union said the number of buses in West Bengal has dropped from 37,000 pre-Covid to 25,000 post-Covid. In the Kolkata Metropolitan Area, the number of buses has decreased from 7,500-8,000 to 2,500-3,000.
In 2023, the government had set May 31 as the deadline for stage carriages to install the devices which have emergency buttons to come to the rescue of commuter as well as bus employees if they face any problem on road. By pressing the button the nearby police patrol vehicle and police station will be alerted and intercept the vehicle for any rescue.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)