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Soon there will be a toll free number to check irregularities in bus ticket sales
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) will soon launch a toll-free number allowing passengers to alert officials about conductors not handing them
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) will soon launch a toll-free number allowing passengers to alert officials about conductors not handing them tickets.
“We have planned a toll-free number through which passengers can call us and report anomalies. We have already put stickers in the buses appealing the people not to travel without tickets,” UTC general manager (operations) Deepak Jain told Hindustan Times.
The toll-free number will be extensively advertised at bus terminals.
On July 30, the UTC caught three passengers without tickets in a bus travelling from Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh to Dehradun on July 30. In the past, UTC officers took action in such cases by charging penalty on conductors and suspending them in some cases.
The corporation runs about 1,000 buses that carry 1.25 lakh passengers daily. Besides intra-state service, nearly half of the buses run on inter-state routes to Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi among others.
The UTC incurred losses to the tune of Rs 36 crore annually between 2000 and 2014 due to diesel theft, illegal sale of bus spare parts and irregularities in ticket sales. Taking cognisance of these lapses, squads were formed to monitor the irregularities. In 2015, 2,000 such cases were reported and 600 employees sacked. This figure came down the next year. But, violations are still reported from time to time.
Insiders say the corporation loses nearly Rs 6 crore due to irregularities in ticket sales. In addition, Rs 20 crore loss is reported due to spare part theft and Rs 10 crore due to diesel pilferage. It organised several workshops and trainings for employees, drivers and conductors but there is no stopping to the malpractices.
“The toll-free number will assist passengers in reporting anomalies instantly,” assistant transport commissioner Sunita Singh said.
