Govt. to issue route permits to over 4,000 private buses

State Cabinet to meet soon to take decision

With the ongoing strike by the TSRTC employees’ unions for over three weeks providing no respite to lakhs of passengers, the government has apparently decided to toughen its stance further and consider long-term measures to prevent inconvenience to the people.

The government, according to sources, has decided in principle to issue route permits to around 4,000 buses shortly. A final decision in this regard will be taken by the State Cabinet which is expected to meet soon to take a decision in this regard. Sources cited the recent amendment made to the Motor Vehicle Act by the Central government enabling the States to issue route permits to private operators. Further bolstering the amendment is the huge response received for the notification issued for hiring private buses which crossed expectations.

‘Healthy competition’

“The amendment Bill is a Central Act and nobody can question this,” a senior official said. Officials said vexed with the “ blackmailing tactics” of the agitating unions, the government has in principle decided to give space to private operators.

The decision would go a long way in promoting a ‘healthy competition’ between the public and private sectors and would serve as a permanent measure to avoid inconvenience to public at large. Entrusting responsibility to private sector would ensure that they would run the services in time preventing hardships to people commuting through these buses.

“Moreover, private operators will look for generating revenue to meet their operational expenses as well as to earn profits through operation of the services. Permitting 4,000 buses will be equivalent to operation of around 7,000 buses as the private operators will operate more services at any given point of time as compared with the TSRTC,” the official said on the condition of anonymity

‘Precarious’ condition

The government is concerned over the financial condition of the State-owned corporation which is “precarious”. The corporation is likely to be declared a non-performing asset soon if the situation continues, officials said.

Officials averred that the ongoing strike by the unions had already reached the court and it would be a protracted struggle before the issue reaches its logical conclusion.

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