Revoke permit to KTC on Arambol to Mapusa route: Private bus owners

PERNEM: The private bus owners/operators from Pernem Taluka as well as from Siolim and Mapusa operating on Pernem to Mapusa via Siolim and Colvale route on Monday approached the Pernem Assistant Director of Transport and demanded to revoke the recently issued permit to Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC).
Recently, Mandrem MLA Dayanand Sopte had inaugurated a Kadamba bus to ply from Arambol to Mapusa and back via Mandrem-Arambol-Dhargal.
Raising objection, the private bus owners headed by All Goa Private Bus Owners Association General Secretary Sudin Tamankar confronted the Pernem Assistant Director of Transport and questioned him as to how the Transport Department issued permit to KTC, which is having time clash with private buses playing on the same route and further demanded that the permit should be revoked at the earliest.
Tamankar highlighted that private bus owners are already suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were the bus operators are facing difficulty in generating daily income through the bus transport.
“Private bus services were shut for months due to COVID-19 which has hit income source of the private bus operators. By allowing Kadamba to run at the same timings of private bus, the government has brought more suffering to us. How the private bus operators will survive,” Tamhankar questioned.
He further recalled and highlighted that in year 2018, All Goa Private Bus Owners Association had submitted a memorandum requesting the Transport Department to take the private bus owners into confidence before issuing permit to Kadamba. However, the Department failed to even consider the same.
“With such situation, were the buses face time clash, it ends up with arguments between the private and Kadamba drivers,” Tamankar said.
Responding to the Association, the Assistant Director of Transport said, “The permit issued is temporary and for experimental basis and bus service is made available because the people were facing inconvenience. We will study the route and see what we can do.”