SAD-BSP Comes Up With ‘Transport Policy’ To Be Part Of Its Manifesto For Punjab Election

The SAD (Badal) has come up with its ‘transport policy’ which would be part of its manifesto for the ensuing 2022 Assembly elections.

Divulging SAD-BSP’s vision for transporters in case it comes to power, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had recently said that a Transport Welfare Board would be constituted to regulate the transport, remove the hiccups and formulate the transporters’ welfare schemes. He said transport-related policies and taxes would be decided and implemented by the board with the active involvement of the beneficiary before implementation. A corpus of Rs 25 crore would be spared to run the affairs. On this Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “Our aim is to provide a forum to the transporters where they can raise their concerns.

The government-oriented transport board would include the representatives of transport sector”. He further said, “A grievance committee would be constituted under the SDM of the district concerned where the rate of transportation of goods would be decided after taking the transport and the trading community into confidence. The committee would address the grievances of the transport and the trade unions in a transparent and efficient manner”. Government e-tenders for the carriage of goods would exclusively be for the transport operators who were actively involved in it.

The committee would address the grievances of the transport and the trade unions in a transparent and efficient manner”. Government e-tenders for the carriage of goods would exclusively be for the transport operators who were actively involved in it.

“This step has been taken to restrict the political interference at the time of allotment of tenders. The process will be online for maintaining transparency,” he mentioned. To curb the officials’ interference in exploiting the transporters on the pretext of furnishing documentation, a policy would be formulated under which the documents pertaining to the vehicle would be scrutinised only once a year. The government would allot a ‘sticker’ to the vehicle that would validate that the papers of the vehicle were in order. “This move would be introduced so that the police and state transport officials should not harass the transporters on the basis of documentation.

The police could intercept the vehicle only to check illegal activity only,” he said. On the national highways, special weighing machines would be installed to check the overloading of the vehicle, keeping in view the safety aspect and legality of the carriage. The ‘one-time settlement’ scheme would be introduced to clear the taxes and dues of the vehicle. School vans and buses which transport schoolchildren would get special subsidy in transport taxes in comparison to the commercial vehicles. Sukhbir assured that the defunct ‘transport unions’ would be revived and its president would be the one with at least five-year experience of operating the transport business. 

Sukhbir assured that the defunct ‘transport unions’ would be revived and its president would be the one with at least five-year experience of operating the transport business. 

A special insurance scheme would be introduced under which the driver of the vehicle would be covered under life insurance policy of Rs 10 lakh for his family. On the lines of the one at Lambi, identical centres would be established in the district headquarters which would provide training and facilitate heavy vehicle driving licence. To spare a thought for environment, diesel-operated auto-rickshaws would be replaced with e-rickshaws and special loan facility with negligible rate of interest would be offered, he said.