Uttar Pradesh puts brakes on ‘Mulayam Travels’, ‘Lalu Transport’

AGRA/FIROZABAD: The roads of Agra and Firozabad have for long seen a unique kind of traffic menace — 'neta' buses. These are buses which usually do not have the required documents but have names claiming political connections, such as ' Mulayam Singh Yadav Travels' and ' Lalu Prasad Yadav Transport'.

The owners of these buses, which number 70 in Agra and more than 200 in Firozabad have used these names to get away with traffic and other violations. Now transport officials have begun a clampdown against 'neta' buses, beginning with penalizing them, in an attempt at removing them from the roads altogether.

With the new political dispensation taking charge of the state government, transport officials have been asked to ensure that such vehicles do not operate on city roads anymore.

According to officials of Agra Roadways, these buses, which operate on major routes such as Etawah, Mainpuri, Etah, Lucknow, Delhi and Aligarh, have been a cause of concern for the transport department for a long time now, as they not only cause a loss of 30-35% in revenue per month, but also misbehave or charge arbitrary fees from passengers. Their modus operandi is simple — park buses outside the depot and get tourists to board them first.

Agra's regional transport officer (enforcement) Anil Kumar said, "Such buses have now become a rarity on city roads. We have been continuously keep a track on their activities. In March alone around 60 have been penalized and Rs 6 lakh recovered in fine from them. We are conducting regular drives and making sure that unauthorized buses do not ply within the city."

In Firozabad, around 30 such illegal buses have been penalized and Rs 3.5 lakh recovered in the past month, said RTO (operations) Shanti Bhushan Sharma.

Kumar said that the issue of unauthorized buses plying on city roads was discussed in a meeting called by Agra divisional commissioner and attended by senior officials of all the police and administrative departments on Wednesday.

SSP Preetinder Singh has instructed his department to ensure that no vehicles including buses ply on city roads without a permit.