Omni bus registered outside Tamil Nadu allowed to operate till June 18 morning

CHENNAI: In a relief to omnibuses registered in other states, the state government has allowed the operation of such buses in the state till June 18 morning considering the interest of passengers who made their travel plans for the Bakrid holiday.

The government has extended the deadline for the operation of the other state-registered omnibuses from June 14 to 18 after the omnibus owners represented Transport Minister SS Sivasankar and Transport Commissioner on Thursday.

All Omni Bus Owners' Association president A Anbalagan said that initially, the Transport Commissioner rejected the Omni bus owners' request to extend the deadline considering the short time and weekend along with the Bakrid holiday falling on Monday.

"We later met the Transport Minister and requested him to extend the deadline. Following this, the Transport Commissioner and the Minister have considered and permitted to operation of buses registered outside the state in Tamil Nadu till Tuesday morning in the interests of passengers due to the ongoing holiday. Therefore, on behalf of All Omni Bus Owners Association, we express our gratitude to the Transport Minister and the state government," he said.

Earlier, the Minister said that the Transport Commission had been holding talks with the OmniBus owners even before the election." Only after that, the commissioner issued orders to ban the operation of the other state-registered Omnibus in the state from Friday, " he told reporters at an event on Thursday morning.

Transport Commissioner had issued a public notice on June 11 warning that the action would be taken on All India Tourist Permit Omni buses registered in other states and operating as stage carriages by picking up passengers at various points and dropping them off in Tamil Nadu.

With over 650 All India Toursit permit vehicles registered in other states being operated within the state, the official said it leads to revenue loss to the state. Despite the extension of time given to the omnibuses to re-register in the state thrice, only 105 vehicles out of the 650 vehicles have been re-registered by the local RTOs.