1,000 interstate buses plying illegally fined, impounded

NEW DELHI: The transport department is carrying out a major crackdown on unauthorised buses plying in the city. As part of a special enforcement drive in the last fortnight, it has penalised and impounded more than 1,000 buses running on interstate routes.
The buses have been penalised for violating permit norms. Although ferrying passengers between Delhi and cities and towns such as Agra, Jaipur, Ajmer, Kullu- Manali, Jammu and Moradabad, these buses didn’t have valid permits to take individual passengers on these routes.While 60 teams of the enforcement wing have penalised 212 unauthorised buses in May, it has fined and impounded 1,048 buses, most of them in the past 15 days.
“All these buses were operating on contract carriage permits, which allow these vehicles to be hired as chartered buses for a group but they can’t take individual passengers. Only buses with stage carriage permits can ferry individual passengers and issue tickets,” said an official. This permit is given to a bus operator to ply the vehicle on a particular route that consists of stages where passengers can be picked up and dropped.
Chartered buses can ferry a group of passengers only from one point to another and can’t stop on the way and pick up individual passengers, the official said. “We received complaints that contract carriage buses were running illegally on these routes and stopping at different points to pick up passengers,” he added.
These buses were plying illegally, which was not only leading to loss of revenue for the government but were also a major safety concern, he said. “Passengers would board these buses without knowing that these don’t have permits to pick up individual passengers.”
The department focused on areas from where these buses usually pick up passengers, particularly near the Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar and Kashmere Gate inter-state bus terminuses. Two other areas were Majnu Ka Tila and Red Fort. The impounded buses have been kept at Sarai Kale Khan and Burari.