Chandigarh, March 28:
Punjab Transport Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar, on Monday, directed the defaulter bus operators to submit tax at the earliest failing which could invite cancellation of permits and their buses will not be included in the new time table of buses.
While chairing a review meeting of Transport Department here at Punjab Civil Secretariat, S. Bhullar directed the officials that special emphasis should be laid to increase the income of department so that PRTC, Punjab Roadways and Punbus could be brought to the top position.
To ensure more transparency and provide timely services to the people, the Transport Minister directed the officials to ensure biometric attendance of officials and employees so that hassle-free and timely services to common people could be ensured.
S. Bhullar directed the officials to issue bus permits to unemployed youth of the state on priority and the all process should be completed as per the policy in a transparent manner. Meanwhile, the Minister also instructed to investigate thoroughly the matter of illegal extension in route permits.
Asking the officials to ensure the state and private buses stoppage inside the bus stands, he said that strict departmental action will be initiated against erring employees.
S. Laljit Singh Bhullar asked the Principal Secretary Mr. K Siva Prasad to start bus service especially from Patti-Mata Chintpurni-Jawala Ji for pilgrimages.
State Transport Commissioner Mr. Vimal Kumar Setia, Director Transport-cum-MD PunBus Ms. Amandeep Kaur, MD PRTC Ms. Parneet Shergill, Additional State Transport Commissioner Mr. Amarbir Singh Sidhu and other senior officials of the department were also present in the meeting.
Reviews functioning of Bus Tracking System Monitoring and Control Room, Asks to ensure plying of idle buses
Later, the Punjab Transport Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar reviewed the functioning of the Bus Tracking System Monitoring and Control Room. During this, Principal Secretary Mr. K. Siva Prasad apprised the Minister that this system has been installed in 1354 government buses so far, which has been ensuring security of the common people, especially women. For transparent and time bound transportation of buses, centralised vigil and control room has been set up at Chandigarh, where checking over-speeding of buses, harsh braking and acceleration, overnight stay of buses, stoppage at any other place rather than designated stops, stay of buses on Dhabas for more than 25 minutes, route diversion, bypassing cities, missing stops, real time monitoring of arrival and departure of buses from counters, actual travel distance of buses etc were being monitored. The monitoring of buses in the system is also being done by the General Manager of concerned depots and also at the Central Control Room. Management Information System has also been generating reports regarding behavior of drivers & conductors, usage of buses, utilization of available staff, delays and advancement in the time of buses, kilometers covered by buses etc.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar instructed to ensure plying of buses stood idle in the depots so as to increase the revenue of the department. The Minister also asked to rationalize the staff of drivers and conductors in the depots.
