Bengaluru: The State Government’s hasty notification is likely to derail the public transport system. The revenues of Government corporations will be hit hard. The State Government is in a hurry to implement the notification which will subvert the public transport system.
The new notification provides for extending the traffic distance of all private buses covered in the 2019 Samagra Karnataka Plan to an additional 24 kms. Now the system of transport which is going on in an orderly manner may be in a shambles. The bus owners say that the situation will be such that the private parties themselves will have to fight. Public transport corporations like KSRTC, NWKRTC, Kalyana Karnataka and BMTC have raised strong objections to this.
After the Nationalisation of the transport system in the State, newly registered buses were not allowed to enter Bengaluru. As per the new order, all buses will be allowed to enter Bengaluru. Senior officials say this will affect the basic purpose of the Nationalised Scheme.
In the private transport system, the existing route can be extended to 24 kms by extending or diverting it. This may disrupt the orderly mode of transport now. The bus owners say that the situation will be such that the private parties themselves will have to fight.
The new amendment has been notified as per the law of Chapter 5 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. However, section 98 of Section 6 of the Act and none of the provisions contained in Chapter 5 shall apply when it comes to Chapter 6. After the implementation of the Nationalised Scheme 2019, there is no provision in the law for such an amendment. There are objections that the notification was issued in violation of the rules.
Neither the Government’s public institutions nor the private sector has put any pressure on the extension of licences. The question, then, is in whose interest this notification is in. No private bus owners are applying to the RTO for a new permit after the nationalised scheme came up. There have been allegations that the notification was favoured by the officials themselves before the announcement of the elections for its resumption.
The State Government had issued a draft notification on February 8, 2023. They were given time to file objections by March 10. Notably, the State Government issued a Gazette Notification on March 10 without waiting for objections. As per rules, after filing an objection, the hearing should be allowed for two weeks. The hearing has been fixed for Friday March 24.
