With an aim to ending the monopoly of the Badal family-owned transport companies, the Punjab Government today announced to come out with a new draft transport policy in two weeks.
The government will review the existing permits and the inter-state reciprocal agreement with Chandigarh.
To be framed by May 15, as directed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the new policy will affect 750 private bus route permits, 1,840 extensions beyond 24 km of original routes and 6,700 mini bus permits.
Under the inter-state reciprocal agreement, 2008, the transport companies owned by politically influential families were able to run super integral coaches between Chandigarh and prominent cities of Punjab.
Department officials revealed that the revenue growth in the state’s transport sector in the past seven years was around 7 per cent to 8 per cent. The revenue collection was Rs 873 crore from commercial vehicles and Rs 676 crore from personal light vehicles during 2016-17.
A government functionary said the irrational approach adopted in giving time slots to influential bus operators would be replaced by a fair and rational system.
It has also been decided to review the tax structure of the previous government, under which luxury coaches paid less tax as compared to the state transport buses.
