Committee in the offing to look into transporters’ woes

VASHI: A coordination committee comprising transporters and officials of various state government departments and related stakeholders will soon be formed to look into the issues faced by the transporters.

The announcement was made at a programme to mark the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Federation of Bombay Motor Transport Operators at the Cidco Exhibition Centre in Vashi on Thursday.

The theme of the celebration was Road Transport Safety and Environment. “Road safety has always been our primary concern and hence, it is our theme today. We regularly organise awareness and health camps for our members,” said Daljit Singh Bal, president, Federation of Bombay Motor Transport Operators.

Explaining the need for a coordination committee, Bal Malkit Singh, chairman of the committee that organised the function, said, “It is not just the transport ministry that we have to deal with. We also have to deal with the PWD, home ministry, traffic police, MMRDA and other such government departments. We want the presence of all the stakeholders in the coordination committee to ensure our issues are heard and resolved at the earliest.”

Gautam Chhaterjee, additional chief secretary (transport and ports), who was the chief guest at the function, said, “We welcome the idea and will surely help form it. We will wait for a proposal from the federation on the stakeholders to be included and then form the committee.”

Speaking on some of their demands, Singh said, “There is traffic congestion at the JNPT with vehicles queuing up for several kilometers along the stretch. This is a criminal waste of time and money and also causes law and order issues.”

“To decongest the city, facilities such as truck terminals and parking lots need to be made a part of urban planning. Such facilities should be provided at the entry points,” said Singh.

“We should have an online facility to pay taxes instead of going to the RTO,” added Singh.