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| Permission denied to 2X3 bus operators for religious pilgrimage | | | Akshay Azad
ET Report
JAMMU, Dec 22: The Jammu and Kashmir Transport authorities have reportedly denied permission to the 2X3 bus operators for religious pilgrimage, evoking strong resentment from transporters who are alleging a conspiracy on the lines of Vaishno Devi tax imposed by Government.
Criticizing the Transporting authorities, bus operators informed Early Times that for the last nearly three decades they have been organizing religious pilgrimage "Ganga Sagar Mela" on the occasion of Lohri and Makar Sankrati. "We hire 2X3 buses for the pilgrimage but this year the Transport authorities have denied permission to 2X3 buses and have decided to allow only 2X2 buses for the pilgrimage", a transport operator said.
He further said that the pilgrimage was scheduled to start from December 25 but for the last more than one week they have been moving from pillar to post of Regional Transport Office but all in vain.
"For the last many decades, we have been getting permission but this year permission is denied on flimsy ground. We have so far met RTO Jammu, Commissioner Secretary but our pleas were not listened by them also", he said.
Om Namo Shivay Tour and Travel, owner Jagdish Kumar Fouji said that the transport authorities have been saying that no permission would be granted to the buses for other routes except the route permit. "Given such directions now only the 2X2 deluxe buses are allowed to go for religious pilgrimage but the fare for the pilgrims will automatically increase, and which will ultimately restrict poor pilgrims to go for religious pilgrimage", he said.
Explaining further, he said that 2X2 buses have only 32 seats while the 2X3 buses have 47 seats due to which the cost of pilgrimage would increase automatically. "2X2 buses are classified as Deluxe buses so there is double tax on them while the 2X3 buses are ordinary buses on which there is simple tax, ultimately the pilgrims would have to bear the brunt of this dictatorial decision of the administration", he said.
Another bus operator, Jeet Singh said that Tourism department has given them the licence for organizing the religious pilgrimage but it was really a dictatorial decision of administration. "If permission for out of route is denied for religious pilgrimage then same should also be applied during the rallies of the Ministers. Why not permission to 2X3 buses is given during rallies of political parties, during that time Transport Commission as well as entire Government machinery remained mum", he said.
Drawing a parallel between the tax imposed on the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, the tour operator alleged that the denying of permission was under a well-planned conspiracy of administration. "Firstly they imposed tax on Vaishno Devi pilgrims and now on the pilgrimage to Ganga Sagar Mela. This is a deliberate attempt of Government to increase communal hatred among the masses by imposing such arbitrary decisions", he said.
RTO Jammu, Ashwani Khajuria, Commissioner Secretary PI Khateev, and Transport Minister AG Kohli did not pick up their phones despite repeated calls.
An official of RTO office Jammu, said that the permission was not denied for religious pilgrimage but there were many bus operators, who were not running on their routes, for which permission was granted. "Few months back, Transport Commissioner had asked all the bus operators for submitting their time table but no one gave such time table in the last three months, as on which route they have been plying their buses.
He further said that nearly three months' time was given to these bus operators. "We have nearly 200 buses which have national tourist permit but they are plying on Jammu-Katra route, besides we also have buses which have local routes permit but are plying on all India tours, causing inconvenience and shortage of buses on various routes for the locals.
These 2X3 bus operators never come to office along with the groups, which organize such pilgrimages, he said, adding that the groups are also not entertaining these bus operators. "Moreover the permission to load goods on the buses is also denied, evoking resentment among the bus operators as for loading goods is for trucks", he said. |
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