As many as 14 more urban centres in the State are poised to get city transport services on the lines of the BMTC services in Bengaluru in about two months from now.
Announcing this at a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Transport Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy said this the Government was in the process of purchasing 1,080 new buses to facilitate introduction of city transport facilities in 14 towns and increasing the fleet of buses in 20 towns where the city transport facilities were already operational.
Such a step was being taken to help intra-town movement of people in various urban centres where commuters were depending solely on private transport, he said.
The towns and cities which are getting urban transport services or strengthening their already existing urban transport services by adding some more buses into their fleet include: Chamarajangar, Mandya, Maddur, Shivamogga, Ramanagaram, Bhadravathi, Udupi, Chickmagaluru and Sagar, he said.
Expressing concern over the increasing instances of private transporters operating in profitable urban routes despite getting permits to operate only in rural sectors, he said the Transport Department had decided to slap steep penalties ranging from Rs. 10,000 to 25,000 on such violators. The new penalty norms would come into effect in about a month from now, he added.
The Minister said the Government had come out with a proposal to increase the subsidy for owners of two-stroke autorickshaws in Bengaluru from the present Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 60,000 for buying four-stroke three-wheelers which are environment friendly. Bengaluru had nearly 30,000 two-stroke autorickshaws, he noted.
BBMP Elections
Commenting on the forthcoming elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), he said the Government would hold these polls as per the new ward-wise reservation list if the Karnataka High Court gave its permission. The adoption of the new ward-wise reservation list as well as delimitation process would delay the polls by about a month, he observed. However, he was quick to add that the government was prepared to hold the elections as per the schedule on the basis of the old reservation list if the Court denied permission to adopt the new reservation matrix.
GP Polls
Mr. Reddy, who is also In-Charge Minister for Bengaluru City as well as Urban district, refuted the claims of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party that candidates backed by it (BJP) had won more number of wards in the Bengaluru Urban district in the recently held village Panchayat polls than the ruling Congress. The Congress-backed candidates had won 1,241 wards of the total 2,304 in the Bengaluru Urban district, he claimed and declared that his party was ready to organise a “show of strength” involving these candidates.
