Bus owners, led by Association President Sudeep Tamankar, stormed the Ponda RTO office on Wednesday, confronting officials over the alleged transfer of a permit for a bus operating on the Ponda–Margao route to another owner without the knowledge or consent of the original permit-holder.
The group warned that they would launch an agitation if the permit was not restored immediately. They demanded a clear explanation from the RTO, calling the move unjustified and irregular.
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According to Tamankar, the affected owner had been operating his passenger bus on the Ponda–Margao route until an accident in September forced him to send the vehicle for repairs. “Due to financial problems, he could not continue on the route for a month,” he said. When the owner recently approached the RTO to retrieve his permit, he was allegedly informed by the Assistant Director of Transport at Ponda that the permit had already been issued to another bus owner until December.
Tamankar said, “The official did not issue a showcause notice to the original owner before transferring his permit to another bus owner.”
Angry bus operators demanded an explanation from the Assistant Director for issuing the permit without due process. They gave an eight-day deadline for the licence to be restored to the original operator, warning that they would stage a sit-in protest if their demand was ignored.
Tamankar added that such actions were unacceptable at a time when the bus transport business was already “in a state of collapse and losses today.”
