Dehradun. Not caring about the lives of the passengers, the officials of the Uttarakhand Transport Department in connivance issued green cards of Chardham Yatra to three such private buses, which do not meet the standards of operation on mountainous routes. Not only this, the three buses also left for Chardham with the trip card, then the higher officials came to know about it.
The length of all three buses is said to be more than the prescribed standard. Of these, two buses got green card from Narsan checkpost, while one bus got green card from Rishikesh.
RTO administration Dinesh Chandra Pathoi has himself started investigating the matter.
In the course of investigation, he reached the ARTO office in Rishikesh on Thursday and summoned the records of the bus belonging to ARTO Arvind Pandey. The RTO said that one bus is of Haryana number, while the remaining two buses are of Uttar Pradesh number.
Investigation also revealed that all the three buses had applied for green card at the Haridwar ARTO office before the journey. When there was a fitness check, his green card application was canceled due to the length being more. After this, in connivance, two of these buses were issued from Narsan checkpost, while one bus was issued green card from Rishikesh.
In this case, RTO has sought records related to fitness of all three buses from ARTO Rishikesh, Haridwar and Roorkee. According to the RTO, the preliminary investigation has revealed malpractices. When the investigation is complete, it will be sent to the government.
RTO Pathoi said that the overhang (rear part) of all three buses is more than the prescribed standard. The overhang for operation on a mountain route should not exceed 60 percent. The overhang is 60 percent of the total length of both the tires (front and rear) of the buses.
For example, if the length between the two tires of a bus is 50 feet, then its overhang should not exceed 30 feet. The overhang is the measure from the rear tire to the end of the body of the bus. If it is more then there is a risk of accident on the mountain road of the bus. There is a problem in turning the bus on the curve and there is also a danger of hitting the rear part.
There is a shortage of Divisional Inspectors (RIs) in the Transport Department to check vehicles. This is the reason that foremen from roadways have been provided to the department to check the fitness of vehicles during Chardham Yatra. One of these foremen is investigating in Narsan, from where green cards are being issued even if the norms are not met by collusion. Along with this, the situation is the same in Rishikesh as well.
—AnyTV News
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