The private route buses operators have demanded adequate respite in permit fee and sought other tax sops as their buses remained parked following the lockdown.
The Road Transport Department has asked all bus owners registered in the city to pay due permit fees. This has increased the concerns of private bus owners of the city who are already grappling with the financial incurred during the lockdown.
As per reports 350 private buses are off road since more than 40 days, and the district Road Transport Office asked the owners to pay due permit fees. Bus operators told that since the lockdown their business has suffered huge loss and instead of providing respite and adequate subsidy, the department is demanding permit fees.
As per Bus Operators Association’s secretary Rajesh Singh Bhadoria, the bus operator suffered a loss of Rs 2 crore because of lockdown. Over 350 buses are conducted in the region are parked following the lockdown, but the owners are forced to pay overheads like driver and cleaner’s salary and maintenance of buses. The department has instructed the bus owners to pay due fee till the end of May.
Bhadoria demanded that state government should provide some respite for the bus owners. The service operation will be commercially more challenging as after post lockdown period when the buses are allowed to operate with maintaining social distancing, he added.
