Friday, 16 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The city bus union president Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal claimed that the regional transport officer of Dehradun Sunil Sharma is forcing local public transport operators of Dehradun for GPS installation as there is no such provision from the Central government. The RTO is doing so to ensure profit to the GPS device making companies for his personal gains, he alleged. He said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had earlier issued a notification on November 28, 2016 ordering the installation of GPS on all four- wheeler passenger vehicles.
However, the ministry re- examined the notification in 2018 and decided to give an exemption on the installation of GPS to old vehicles. It is also clearly mentioned in the notification dated January 15, 2020 issued by the Central government that it is not mandatory to install GPS in old passenger vehicles, motor taxis and buses bought before 2018. There is also no provision for GPS installation in the Motor Vehicles Act, Dandriyal claimed.
He said that it is questionable how Sharma has ordered that public transport vehicles without GPS will not be operated from Clock Tower and nearby areas. He has asked the officials to impose a challan on such vehicles. Dandriyal alleged that Sharma passed the said proposal in the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) meeting by tricking senior officials of the department. His order is also not logical at all because there are only his signatures on the orders and the agenda was prepared and passed by RTO Sunil Sharma himself. Dandriyal said that he has written about this to chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and asked him to order an investigation into Sharma’s order.
