Wednesday, 14 December 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The representatives of several transporter unions including those of the owners and operators of city buses, Vikrams, auto rickshaws, goods carriage vehicles among others boycotted the meeting organised by the Transport department on Tuesday to discuss the issue of the fitness centre located in Doiwala.
Transporters from Mussoorie, Vikasnagar, Dehradun and Haridwar have been complaining about shifting the fitness centre to Doiwala which is far from the city area. According to them, they do not have any issue with the fitness centre but the department should ensure that the fitness centres are available for transporters in every district in the main areas rather than in very remote areas as that makes no sense for transporters financially as well as physically. They said that visiting the fitness centre in Doiwala takes considerable time and consumes loads of fuel on a regular basis which usually costs them more than 50 per cent payment for that day.
The president of the Dehradun Mahanagar City Bus Seva Mahasangh, Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal said that as per the Central government’s order, the department can provide such fitness centres like earlier till May, 2024. The department can open government fitness test centres or the automated testing stations (ATS) as presently made in Doiwala after a year and a half as per the number of vehicles in the area but they should be set up near the main areas of respective cities, said Dandriyal. He said that the department had called a meeting on Tuesday at 1 PM with representatives of transporter unions who unanimously decided to boycott the meeting.
The officials said that they wanted to talk about the utilisation of ATS besides discussing issues faced by transporters due to the fitness centre in Doiwala and what can be done about it, said Dandriyal. “They have already conducted several meetings regarding the issue and we have told them about our concerns but still nothing happens. Considering this, all the unions decided not to join the meeting on Tuesday,” said Dandriyal.
