Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, July 16: Minister for Transport Abdul Ghani Kohli has said that Government is revisiting the State Transport Policy with the aim to create a robust transportation system ensuring accessible transportation to the public in every nook and corner in the State. He said this during his visit to Lakhanpur in Kathua today.
While reviewing the implementation of the instructions given earlier to the Motor Vehicle Department, Kathua, the Minister said Government has taken the stance to observe zero tolerance towards the practice of overloading. He said the drive against the overloading has shown results and Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) has collected record revenue in the shape of penalty on erring transporters. He said more such steps will be taken in coming times to discourage the defaulters. He also instructed the Deputy Commissioner Excise and RTO Kathua to be vigilant against the practice of transshipment of overloaded goods by the truckers (i.e. ‘Palti system’) and further directed that “Palti System” should be curbed by the administration in coordination with all the concerned departments.
Mr. Kohli said that the State Government is reviewing the bilateral agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with other States under which the exemption of Entry Tax on reciprocate basis is provisioned for the visiting State Transport Undertaking buses. But it has been now observed that the STU’s buses of other states are far exceeding in number when compared to the number of buses of our state transport buses visiting these states and as are mentioned in MoU with other States, resulting loss of state exchequer.
He further instructed Deputy General Manager, SRTC, RTO Kathua and DC Excise Lakhanpur to prepare a detail report regarding the total number of STU’s buses of other state visiting Jammu and Kashmir for further reviewing and rationalizing the MoU with other States.
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