THE OPEN house held to draw up a consensus on phasing out tempos with 550 CNG-driven Maruti Omni cars was marked by demands to put the new vehicles on roads as soon as possible so as to restore livelihood of the tempo operators and drivers, half of whom were put out of business three years ago when the regional transport office refused to renew their permit in view of Supreme Court directions on pollution control measures.
However, the open house, organised by Regional Transport Authority (RTA) at Gandhi Hall this afternoon, failed to arrive at a conclusion on having an umbrella organisation that could run this new public transport system, something similar to Indore City Transport Services Limited that has launched City buses.
The move to replace tempos by Omni cars follows Supreme Court orders issued 45 days back. The new vehicles will be plied as stage and contract carriages (dial-a-cab system).
The 11 tempo operators and drivers, who expressed their views at the open house, wanted to know from RTA the fixed date on which the Omni vehicles would be launched. At the same time, they urged a change in colour of their khaki uniforms and on retaining old route permits. “We are switching from tempo to Omni. But we are not changing our routes.
We will continue to ply on the same routes on which we were plying tempos,” Pandharinath tempo operator Khushbir Singh Gandhi remarked. Others asked RTA to stop giving permits to old vehicles brought from Kerala, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
{{/usCountry}}We will continue to ply on the same routes on which we were plying tempos,” Pandharinath tempo operator Khushbir Singh Gandhi remarked. Others asked RTA to stop giving permits to old vehicles brought from Kerala, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
{{/usCountry}}There were notes of protest from operators like Sharif Kaptan, also a local press photographer, who charged the administration with phasing out tempos with vengeance. Levelling corruption charges, he said administration avoided taking action against smoke-spewing, overloaded Nagar Sevas and ICTSL buses. Another operator, Gajendra Pal, asked to introduce Tata S model in place of Omni.
As protests grew, Congress MLA Ashwin Joshi intervened to say that it was in accordance with Supreme Court decision that the Omnis were being introduced. He said it requires an amendment in Motor Vehicle Act to change colour of khaki uniforms.
Indore City Auto-rickshaw Association president Sayyed Sher Ali said new vehicles should not be granted City permit and they should be plied on 42 existing routes.
Those present on the occasion included Divisional Commissioner Ashok Das, Regional Transport Officer G M Pathak and RTA members and officials. The blue-striped white Omnis would provide newspaper, magazines and water bottle and small luggage holder facility. State Bank of Indore has offered to finance them.