JOIN US City transport minister Ramakant Goswami on Friday said he is all for discipline on roads and does not see the traffic police drive as retaliation against the Delhi Transport Corporation.
The traffic police have so far booked at least 100 DTC buses and videotaped their violations.
“If DTC buses are breaking rules, or for that matter any government vehicle, why should not they be penalised? It is the duty of traffic police to maintain discipline on the road, and it is within their right to prosecute any offending vehicle,” said Goswami.
The DTC launched a special checking drive on November 26, and caught at least 135 police and government officials travelling without tickets in its buses.
The traffic police began their drive against DTC buses a day later. They even armed their policemen with video cameras to record the offence committed by DTC drivers.
In a week-long drive in September, the DTC had prosecuted about 800 police and government officials, following which the city police asked the transport department to allow their staff to have a Rs 50 monthly pass for use in DTC buses.
The department is still mulling over the proposal. “Fifty rupees is too less an amount. However, the matter is still under consideration and a decision in this regard will be taken shortly,” said Goswami.
On the conclusion of its special drive on Friday evening, the DTC claimed that 19,448 buses were checked and 1,205 passengers were found travelling without tickets.
“At least 138 cases of over-travelling were also detected. About 1,541 compromise fee tickets were issued to ticketless travellers and Rs 3,08,200 was recovered,” said a DTC official.
Also, 165 cases of rash and improper parking by drivers, 71 cases of not stopping buses at designated stops, and 12 cases of driving with the doors open were reported.
The official said 17 conductors were booked for not asking for tickets from passengers, and disciplinary action was initiated against them.
According to Goswami, the drive was aimed to check revenue loss due to ticketless travel and non-issuance of tickets by conductors after collecting the due fare.