Har govt approves draft Stage Carriage Permit Scheme-2017

The Haryana government today approved a draft Stage Carriage Permit Scheme-2017 under which 452 intra-state routes will be given to private operators in the state.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the state cabinet held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here this evening.
The new scheme was approved keeping in view the huge demand for passenger transport services, an official release said here.
Under the scheme, any state transport undertaking, person or society, firm and company in Haryana would be eligible to apply for permit on intra-state routes, it said.
The permits will be granted as per the terms and conditions fixed by the state government, the release said.

These will be granted to an applicant subject to the clearance of dues in respect of previous permits. The permits already granted under the City Bus Service Scheme, 2004 will be valid, it said.

However, the Haryana Roadways Employees Union expressed dissatisfaction and said they feared the new scheme as may favour private operators.
"We feel that the number of private buses may subsequently go up, and this may just be the beginning. We have maintained that in Haryana, the government should increase the fleet of state roadways and improve services. There is no demand from the people to privatise the fleet," the union's president, Sarbat Punia, said.

The Roadways employees have resisted any move to grant permits to private operators and gone on strike several times in the past one year.
The Cabinet also approved the Haryana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, and reduced the rate of interest from 1.5 per cent to one per cent on amount of tax due and penalty, the release said.
This Ordinance would validate the tax collected from September 19, 2016 to March 31, 2017. The reduction in the rate of interest from 1.5 per cent to one per cent would further rationalise the interest rate, it said.
The Haryana Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 2016, was enacted on September 19, 2016 to collect tax on all types of vehicles by the Transport Department (Regulatory Wing).

Thereafter, the Haryana Motor Vehicles Taxation Rules, 2016, were also notified in February and the same came into force in April, the release said.