Wednesday, 17 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Transport department has checked nearly 30,000 vehicles as part of its checking campaign to ensure proper monitoring of vehicles for pilgrims’ safety on Char Dham routes since the commencement of Yatra in the State last month. As per the data so far nearly 40 per cent of pilgrims are travelling by Uttarakhand Transport Corporation buses while the remaining 60 per cent are travelling by commercial vehicles including 14 to 16 seater vehicles, said the regional transport officer of the Dehradun division Sunil Sharma. He said that till now, over 73,000 pilgrims have travelled via buses and more than 1.7 lakh pilgrims have travelled through commercial vehicles. He said that the department has issued green cards to 16,500 commercial vehicle operators till now that include 12,000 local operators and 4,500 operators belonging to other States.
Recently some vehicle operators in Rishikesh expressed their anger towards vehicle operators arriving from other States claiming they are affecting their livelihood during Char Dham Yatra. Responding to such claims, Sharma said that those operators have all valid documents including trip cards issued by the department to operate on Char Dham routes and it will be unfair to not expect them to operate in the State despite having all necessary permissions from the government. He claimed that the department is conducting regular checks to ensure that no vehicle is being operated illegally on Char Dham routes. “
The department is regularly checking vehicles across the State, especially on Char Dham routes through static and dynamic monitoring. Our 12 squads have checked nearly 18,000 vehicles so far at all checkposts under the static regulation system and imposed over 680 challans since the Yatra started in the State. Under the dynamic monitoring system, our teams have checked over 10,000 vehicles and issued 1,300 challans,” said Sharma. On the question of whether the department will extend the date of the installation of vehicle location tracking devices (VLTDs) beyond May 31 that it stated to be mandatory last month to operate on Char Dham routes, he said that the department is not likely to extend the date but the final decision will be taken after analysing the situation at the end of this month.
