The Hindu : Front Page : Transport operators call off strike

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Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
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Transport operators call off strike

Special Correspondent

Speed governor regulation only for new vehicles

Old motor vehicles will be exempted from installing speed governors
Transporters seek uniform law for the entire country

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Inconvenienced: Students and their parents were affected on the second day of the transporters’ strike in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Bangalore: The two-day strike by lakhs of lorry, taxi and private bus owners, who were up in arms against the rule to install speed governors in all commercial vehicles, was called off on Tuesday evening following an understanding between the State Government and the various associations. The strike appears to have paid off for the private transport vehicle owners, as the implementation of the speed governor rule has been partially amended.

The order on speed governors which came into force from January 1 in accordance with the amendments to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules and the direction of the Karnataka High Court, will be “suitably modified” pending clearance by a high-level technical committee of the Visvesvaraya Technological University. Further, according to the understanding, while speed governors have to be installed for new vehicles (as and when possible if they cannot be fitted at the time of registration), all old motor vehicles will be kept out of the purview of the rule.

Commissioner for Transport M. Lakshminarayan told The Hindu that the Government order on installation of speed governors would be amended to ensure that the rule was applicable to all new transport vehicles brought to RTOs for registration.

The Government has also agreed to refer technical issues such as impact on engines if speed governors are fixed in the vehicles, to a high level technical committee.

On receipt of the report, the State Government would also write to the Centre to make the rule on speed governors mandatory in the entire country rather than leave it to individual States to enforce it.

The opposition to the speed governor rule in Karnataka surfaced after the transport operators charged that they were “discriminated” against. While the rule was not applicable to trucks, buses and taxis of other States plying on Karnataka roads, locally registered vehicles had to abide by the rules.

Lakhs of transport vehicles including maxi cabs and private buses were off the road since the early hours of Monday demanding that the order be scrapped.

The State Government has been thinking of enforcing the rule since 2004 when a notification was issued by the Dharam Singh-led Government following amendments to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules.

A case relating to the installation of speed governors also came up for hearing in the High Court on Tuesday. The single judge hearing the appeal of the Lorry Owners’ Association referred the matter to a division Bench. This and other related petitions are now expected to be heard on Thursday.

The president of the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners’ and Agents’ Association, G.R. Shanmukhappa and the president of the Taxi Owners Association, K.S. Tantry told The Hindu “We are happy that the discriminatory rule has been kept in cold storage. Our vehicles are compelled to move at slow speeds owing to increasing traffic and poor road conditions. We have no opposition if the speed governor rule is implemented throughout the country. Let there be a uniform rule.”

Even as the Government was holding discussions with the representatives of the associations, several RTOs in the State began issuing fitness certificates to vehicle owners against an affidavit that they would install the speed governor as and when they were available.

Schoolchildren affected

The second day of the strike affected a section of schoolchildren, though there were no reports of school vans being stopped. Despite assurances by the taxi drivers’ association that school-bound vehicles will not be affected, some vans stayed off the roads as a “precaution”. Working parents had to take time off from their work schedules to ensure safe transportation of their children.

Sandhya A., who sends her child to B.P Indian Public School, Malleswaram, said she had to send her child by autorickshaw as she was not sure about the safety in the private transport provided by the school. Sheela Bolar, principal of Innisfree School, J.P. Nagar, said that though there were no incidents of vans being stopped, many parents had arranged private pick-ups and drops.

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