Transport dept drive splits bus operators
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, OCT 11
Transport department’s drive to weed out irregularities in public transport system seems to have created a rift in All Goa Private Bus Owners Association (AGPBOA) with one faction opining against the drive.
The special meeting convened on Sunday to take stock of the situation arising out of the drive witnessed chaos when few members barged into the hall and hurled abuses.
The noisy scenes prevailed at the meeting which ended abruptly.
AGPBOA General Secretary Sudip Tamankar said that after the meeting two private bus operators suddenly created ruckus.
Tamankar later lodged police complaint against Yaduvir Simepurushkar and Augustine Pereira, for threatening him.
The bitter rivalry within the association also forced Tamankar on the brink of resignation.
“I had almost resigned but some bus operators have asked me to hold on. The issues will be settled,” he said adding that transport department’s Assistant Director Pralhad Desai was instrumental in coaxing few private operators against him.
The drive initiated by the Transport Department since October 1 has yielded good results with more than 250 cases booked by the officials against erring conductors and drivers, in the first week.
While some private operators are happy with the drive, many feel that the drive is like department’s dictatorship on the road.
Tamankar was leading the bus operators who had agreed to have such a drive to clear off the confusions in the private bus business. T
hey had said that the drivers and conductors were not listening to them and they can be kept in place only by fining them.
