Crackdown on unauthorised buses continues in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: Cracking down on unlicensed, privately owned buses plying as public transport, the chief minister’s flying squad on Friday raided five locations in the city—najafgarh Road, Sohna Road, Jhajjar Road, Kherki Daula toll plaza and Iffco Chowk—and fined 24 buses and nine Eeco vans to the tune of ₹2,08,850, allegedly plying without a licence.

For this, DSP Jitendar Gehlawat, head of the flying squad, appointed 17 people and created five teams that were supported by personnel from the Road Transport Authority (RTA).

RTA secretary RK Singh confirmed that he sent out two teams on Thursday to assist the flying squads. “We are on the lookout for buses camouflaged in the colours of state roadways buses. In Gurugram, we mainly see imitations of Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab buses,” he said.

Gehlawat added that this drive is going to continue in the coming weeks and that a report of Thursday’s campaign would be sent to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

“We will deploy teams in other locations that serve as transit hubs for such buses. In all cases today, the buses were caught at locations from where people make inter-city journeys, mainly towards Bhiwadi, Alwar, Rohtak, Manesar,” he said.

Singh and Gehlawat both said that such vehicles were eating into the customer share of Haryana Roadways buses. They warned that repeat offenders will be subject to police inquiry and FIRS will be lodged against owners of such vehicles.

Haryana Roadways union workers, for the most part, welcomed the effort. However, a few others were sceptical of the government’s intentions. “They are doing this for the new, licenced private buses that will soon become operational,” said Vipin Kamboj, a union member and bus driver in the Haryana Roadways.

“The private buses are ready, but have not been rolled out for fear of backlash from the unions,” said a senior official privy to the matter.