Kolar, 26 Nov

In a major swoop on erring private buses driving on National Highways, transport authorities on Wednesday intercepted high-end multi-axle buses on the Bengaluru-Chennai National Highway and seized 25 vehicles. The buses had Tourist permits in North Indian and North Eastern states, but were running regularly in Karnataka State without paying the required State road tax. 

Authorities are in the process of a crackdown on road tax.  

The operation began early in the day with the Joint Transport Commissioner Gayathri Devi and with Kolar Regional Transport Officer Venugopala Reddy M intercepting the vehicles and checking for documents and safety measures. 

Devi said it was brought to her notice that many buses were plying on regular routes without paying the stipulated State road tax, which is why she ordered the raid. 

Most of the vehicles lacked basic safety measures, such as an emergency door or a hammer needed to open the emergency door. Authorities booked such buses, said sources in the Transport Department.  

Venugopala said that in all 28 buses were intercepted at various points, including Nangali on the Karnataka Andhra Pradesh border and about 25 buses were found to have not paid the State Road tax. 

He said different types of buses are taxed differently. This ranges between Rs 1.50 lakhs to Rs 3.00 lakhs. Authorities are in the process of calculating the same for the seized buses, depending on the seating capacity of the buses and their type.

COMMUTERS HIT

As the authorities seized the buses, commuters who had booked their seats in these luxury buses were inconvenienced. Some of them expressed their ire at the authorities.  However, Transport Department Authorities made alternate arrangements for their onward journey by roping in KSRTC buses.