The private buses are not only ferrying passengers but also consignment of goods and luggage. The Transport department now has caught such private buses over the past 8-10 days or so that were starting from Mumbai. Under normal conditions, people used to transport their luggage, large goods and other consignments in buses of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
However due to the ongoing strike by MSRTC employees, people are facing problems in sending large goods which otherwise were being dispatched to interiors of Maharashtra or neighbouring states in these MSRTC buses. This however has provided a window of opportunity to private bus operators running inter-city or inter-state to ferry these goods.
“We have caught around 75-80 private buses over the past 10 days or so for wrongfully carrying luggage and goods inside their buses and transporting them for commercial purposes,” confirmed Avinash Dhakne, Maharashtra Transport Commissioner.
According to sources in Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) most of these complaints of transporting goods were found in locations of Sion, Kurla, Panvel, Vashi and Borivali from where these private inter-city buses depart or have a major halt. Explaining the situation, RTO officers said that people wanting to dispatch consignments of various sizes be it large goods packed in boxes or small baggage just to be couriered; was done through these private buses.
“We found that these private bus operators were charging arbitrary amounts for ferrying goods. These were either placed next to the drivers’ seat or on the footboard wherever the seats were not occupied. They also used to stow it away in the storage compartment of the buses,” said a RTO officer.
The Transport Department during their routine checks levied fines anywhere between Rs 500 to Rs 15000 depending on the breach found inside or outside these private buses. The officers also looked for damaged rear and side view mirrors, faulty and incomplete vehicle documents, issues with seating inside buses in terms of overcrowding and other issues pertaining to fitness of these private buses.
This antic has remained prevalent namely during this period when MSRTC stir continues throughout the state. The private bus operators claim that not all are resorting to these wrongful methods of transporting goods. “But then they are doing it to earn extra money,” said a private bus operator.
The strike is turning into a political mosh pit as parties are taking their own agenda at the expense of the poor employees. On the other hand the MSRTC continued with issuing notices to 230 more employees asking them why their services should not be terminated. The staffers have been on strike since October 28 demanding its merger with the state government and since November 9 when the stir intensified, its 250 bus depots got paralyzed. So far 21,644 of the 67,904 employees of MSRTC have joined work. A total of 122 depots are now functional while 128 are not.
