PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE / Dehradun
The City Bus Union has submitted a letter to the Transport secretary, commissioner and Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Dehradun regarding the illegal operation of electric buses on the Dehradun-Rishikesh-Narendranagar route. They requested that these illegal operations be halted.
Informing about this, the union president Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal informed that the letter specifies that the four electric buses currently plying on this route are operating as stage carriages, picking up and dropping off individual passengers from various locations. This practice is causing financial losses to the city buses that service Dehradun, Doiwala, Jolly Grant and Ranipokhari.
Dandriyal informed that a notification issued by the Central government on April 18, 2023, clarifies that these electric buses are classified as tourist vehicles. Under this notification, vehicles operating on battery, methanol or ethanol can be issued an All India Tourist Permit without the payment of any permit fee. These vehicles are required to carry a list of tourists and present this document upon request from enforcement officers.
He argued that electric buses should be allowed to travel from one point to another while carrying passengers in accordance with their tourist vehicle status. Dandriyal emphasised that, given these circumstances, the illegal operation of electric buses on the Dehradun-Rishikesh-Narendranagar route should be stopped to prevent further financial loss to city buses. Currently, the said electric buses are plying on this route as stage carriages.
