Bengaluru: RTO cracks whip on illegal services, seizes 6 buses

Bengaluru: The Transport Department, which was keeping quiet despite contract carriage buses plying right in front of the Regional Transport Office (RTO), Bengaluru, violating permit conditions, on Tuesday cracked the whip and seized as many as six such buses. According to the reports form Transport department, a special operation was carried out on Bellary Road under the direction of Yelahanka Regional Transport Officer Prakash. It was learnt that buses were travelling in the State having the permit documents from Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

Contract carriage buses are supposed to operate from point to point ferrying groups of people. They are not supposed to ply as regular stage carriage buses, picking up and dropping passengers from bus stands and en route bus stops. However, these buses had been plying as regular stage carriages within city limits.

"This operation was based on confirmed information that few buses were operating without paying taxes to the State. The owners of buses have been issued notices and they will have to respond to it, following which they have to submit the related documents and the fine amount," said a senior RTO official.

According to reports, many complaints about such practices had been raised by activists, and also KSRTC had filed a complaint with the Lokayukta in recent days, stating that the contract carriage buses involved in such practices were denting KSRTC's revenues.