Omni bus owners cry foul as government impounds buses for high fare
A Anbalagan, president of All Omni Bus Owners Association, pointed out that the transport department has impounded 102 omni buses during the last few days.
Representative Image
CHENNAI: As the transport department tightens the surveillance against fleecing omni buses during the puja holidays, owners of the omni buses cry foul and urge the state government to ensure smooth operation of buses that function as per norms.
In a representation to Chief Minister MK Stalin, A Anbalagan, president of All Omni Bus Owners Association, pointed out that the transport department has impounded 102 omni buses during the last few days.
"Even though the government has not fixed fares for omni buses, associations have fixed reasonable fares and received approval from the government in September 2022. The buses are being operated at the fixed fares," he said.
He added as many as 102 buses have been impounded by the authorities across the state and more than 4,000 passengers suffered as they were de-boarded midway. "Due to this, drivers are stressed out and passengers could reach their destination on time. In a circular dated October 13 issued by the Transport Commissioner, zonal offices have been directed to impound at least 10 buses. Owing to this order, officials impounded the buses, which operated without committing any mistake," he said.
Anbalagan pointed out that owners are in a predicament that they could not provide buses to 4,000 passengers, who booked tickets already.
Saying that the omni buses help more than 1 lakh passengers during festival season, Anbalagan urged the chief minister to ensure free operation of omni buses that ply as per norms.
In the circular, Transport and Road Safety Commissioner A Shanmuga Sundaram said that despite instructing the officials to check omni buses, which are collecting exorbitant fare during the festivals like Milad-Un-Nabi, Gandhi Jayanthi and Puja holidays, not even a single case was booked between September 28 and October 3.
"We cannot expect the passengers to Come forward to lodge a complaint with us. Rather, we should take proactive action. We could very well login to various bus booking apps like Red Bus, Abhi Bus, etc., to detect the floating rates between various routes and based on such inputs, we can detain the vehicle well in advance in the departing station or at the destination station," the circular said.