There appears to be no respite for Telangana State Road Transport Corporation from its woes as fines for traffic violations of its drivers in the city keep piling up.
According to figures, in the past three years, the transport juggernaut’s drivers were penalised ₹15.23 lakh.
Data obtained under the Right to Information Act shows that as many as 2,964 challans were issued to bus drivers for various traffic violations between January 2017 and August 31, 2019.
Activist Kareem Ansari of YouRTI, who filed the RTI query, said, “Every few weeks, we hear of accidents involving RTC buses. I wanted to check whether the traffic police have been proactive in fining buses and whether the RTC, which has been facing financial difficulties for several years, is in a position to pay them. The data has been obtained from the office of DCP, Traffic-I.”
The data shows while the drivers were fined ₹15.23 lakh, over half the amount, ₹7.03 lakh, is still unpaid.
The RTI reply makes it clear that it is the drivers of TSRTC who have to pay the penalty. “The Motor Vehicle Act-1988 is applicable to all traffic violators, including TSRTC. Whenever challans are generated against TSRTC, the same are being intimated to the Depot Managers and in response, they are collecting fine from the drivers concerned and sending in the form of DDs, addressing to APT Online,” the reply reads.
This year alone, 790 challans were issued to TSRTC drivers, with the fine running into ₹4.56 lakh. Of this, ₹2.61 lakh has been paid.
