No private bus operator fined by Pune RTO despite selling tickets at inflated rates during Diwali

Transport officer says inspection teams could not find any transporter selling tickets at exploitive rates

Not a single inter-city private bus operator has faced any action from the regional transport authorities (RTO) despite some operators flouting the government resolution by charging exploitative rates on ticket fare during the Diwali rush. Lack of evidence is the main reason behind RTO not taking actions against any private operators, said Sanjay Raut, deputy regional transport officer.

Private busses at Sangamwadi Bridge, Shivaji Nagar in Pune. MSRTC had announced its festive fare hike and increased the ticket fare by 10 per cent (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

“We had formed three teams and conducted a series of inspections at different locations from where private buses operate and their respective booking offices. However, we could not find a single private bus operator selling tickets at rates beyond the permissible limit,” he said, adding that the teams who also spoke to commuters present at locations found no evidence proving that the tickets were sold at inflated rates.

Raut said, “It was routine inspection conducted by our teams where we imposed penalty on eight private bus operators for reasons such as the buses were operating without insurance, without pollution under control (Puc) certificates etc. We did not fine any bus operator for flouting fares during the Diwali season.”

Contrary to reports in a section of the media, RTO has denied imposition of penalty of ₹3.29 lakh on eight private bus operators for charging exorbitant fares during the festive season.

The state government on April 27, 2018, had issued a resolution stating that private bus contractors cannot charge more than 1.5 times the fare charged by the Maharashtra state road transport corporation (MSRTC) buses.

RTO had also held a meeting with private bus operators to convey the decision. However, despite the directives by the state government, many private bus operators continued the violations of norms. HT in its earlier report published on November 7 had exposed the violations by a few private bus operators.

Atul Waikos of Saini travels had earlier said that “We have not faced any action from RTO because our rates are as per the rule — 1.5 times the MSRTC rates.”

However, on site investigation done by the HT team had revealed that a seat on a bus by Saini travels leaving from Sangamwadi and heading towards Amravati was being sold at ₹2,817 (sleeper) on an online aggregator platform. As the MSRTC rate of that route is ₹1,585, the fare should not have exceeded ₹2,377.

“If Saini travels has sold the tickets at these rates, it is wrong and are liable to be fined. However, we can only take action if we have concrete evidence that the tickets are sold at high rate. So far we have not received any complaints from the travellers. Only if we receive complaints, we will be in a position to act against the private bus operators” said Raut.

He urged citizens to come forward and register complaints against private bus operators who flout state government directive on fares.

Government notification:

In a government resolution passed by the home department of Maharashtra governement on April 27, the state put a cap on the limit of hike in the private bus fare at 50 percent of the MSRTC rates. The decision was based on the fare charged by MSRTC per kilometre. Therefore, if hypothetically MSRTC levied ₹10 per kilometer, the private bus contractors cannot charge more than ₹15 per kilometer.

Minister’s promise:

Diwakar Raote, cabinet minister of transport in Maharashtra government, in an interview given to Hindustan Times in May had said, “We have received complaints and acted upon the same by fining seven bus contractors. If things continue this way, then, we will cancel their permits across Maharashtra, including Pune.”