‘Allow tourist vehicles to ply across the State’

Members of Federation of All Tourist Vehicles Associations staged a protest outside the South Regional Transport office on Bypass Road here on Wednesday, with a demand to allow them resume across the State operations which was suspended in the wake of COVID-19 induced lockdown five months back

Their representative R. Sukumaran said they had been pleading with the government to allow them to operate tourist vans and cabs. “Now with e-pass relaxations in place, we must be allowed to operate vehicles as people have started travelling,” he said.

Validity of vehicle insurance, which was renewed in January this year must be extended for the whole year. “The vehicles have not been running for almost a whole year. So it is only right that the money that we spent towards renewing our insurance is valid for the extended period,” he said.

A small section of cab operators were being allowed to ply within each district. However, traffic police often levy fines on those vehicles through the online VAHAN portal. “If there is a traffic violation, we would like to know the nature of it before paying the fine,” he said.