Soon, order to restrict plying of totos, auto rickshaws on state and national highways

Kolkata: The state Transport department will soon issue an order directing the civic bodies and Panchayats to restrict the plying of totos and auto rickshaws on state highways and national highways under their respective jurisdiction.

“Private bus operators have stopped operation in certain routes with passengers opting for autos and totos in certain parts of national and state highways. Though these vehicles are travelling in short routes, the entire long route is getting affected and private buses are not getting enough passengers as per their expectation which has led to decrease in bus service. Therefore, we felt the need to regulate the movement of small passenger vehicles on these main roads,” Snehasis Chakraborty said in the state Assembly on Monday.

According to the minister, presently 2,400 government and 36,000 private buses ply across the state. He admitted that with the guidelines of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directing prohibition of vehicles that are 15 years old to ply, the number of buses has come down. The state government has also taken up scrapping of vehicles that are over 15 years old, he said.

“It is difficult to replace state buses so quickly but we are taking all possible measures and hopefully the problem of availability of less number of state buses will be sorted out soon,” Chakraborty added. He said that the state will soon start bus operations in a number of new routes as per requisition received from public representatives.

He added that in the financial year 2022-23, the Transport department earned a revenue of Rs 3,307.18 crore against a target of Rs 2,705 crore. In 2021-22, the revenue earned was Rs 2,583.72 crore and hence there has been a significant increase in revenue of the Transport department. Till June 30, the state earned Rs 827.44 crore which was Rs 785.40 crore during the corresponding period in the 2022-23 fiscal.