Congestion tax mooted to reduce private vehicles

Public interest is paramount over private bus owners’, says DC

Sasikanth Senthil, Deputy Commissioner, at a RTA meeting in Mangaluru on Monday.

The Dakshina Kannada district administration is contemplating introduction of electronic road pricing (ERP) to decongest city roads of burgeoning private vehicles and encourage public transport.

This should be the way ahead, said Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil presiding over the Regional Transport Authority meeting here on Monday.

He told reporters later that augmenting road infrastructure to accommodate the ever-increasing number of vehicles was not the solution. Instead, people should be made to use public transport even as equal encouragement be given to pedestrians, he said.

Under ERP, vehicles entering identified city areas would be made to pay a price electronically. The move would discourage owners of private vehicles entering the city and encourage use of public transport, he said. It would also improve pedestrian safety with those walking getting more space to move on, Mr. Senthil said.

He would soon hold a meeting with councillors and officials of Mangaluru City Corporation as well as people's representatives from the city and the district in this regard before implementing the scheme in a phased manner, the DC said.

Focus on public convenience

During the meeting, Mr. Senthil made it clear that he was for ensuring public convenience and would not budge to any private interests. He said any issue affecting the general public would be attended to on priority even as problems being faced by private bus operators too would be attended. However, there is no compromise with regard to public interest, he said.

Social activist G. Hanumanth Kamath said introduction of 14 city buses by Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation funded under JnNURM for Mangaluru is stalled since two years.

Though permits were issued by the RTA two years ago, private operators have obtained a stay from the High Court, he said and urged the DC to direct the KSRTC to present its case strongly before the court and commence the services.

Meanwhile, nearly one hundred residents from Thoudugoli near Mudipu said their four years’ demand for bus service to the city has not been considered and urged the RTA to direct introduction of city bus services.

Superintendent of Police B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda, Additional DC Kumar and in-charge Senior Regional Transport Officer S.G. Hegde were present.