Faced with the issue of delayed response against panic button and mismatch of the pollution certificate between that of the government authorized centres and the remote sensing device (RSD), the transport operators are demanding a proper infrastructure and a decrease in the fines.

Members of the ‘Joint Forum of Transport Operators,’ including unions of private and minibuses, online app cabs and pool cars today met the state transport minister and submitted a deputation underscoring the problems of panic button and pollution certificate results mismatch. According to the general secretary of City Suburban Bus Services, Tito Saha, there is a delay in response to pressing the panic buttons installed with the vehicle location tracking device. A similar issue was raised by the members of the online app cabs.

As pointed out by the general secretary of the Online Cab Operators Guild, Indranil Banerjee, the panic button that was supposed to receive immediate response from the police with the arrival of the cops on the spot quickly, presently has failed to get the desired results. “There are around 1,000 vehicles in the organization that have installed the VLTD. However, on pressing the panic button, a call from the police is being received after an hour or two, to confirm about the matter. Thus, in case of an emergency if the panic button is pressed by a commuter, he or she would not get the desired response,” said Mr Banerjee. The members of the union, themselves, are said to have tested the system and received a call from the police after a long time.

The other issue that the operators are ruing about is the mismatch in the pollution certificate results. “When an operator is getting the pollution certificate from an authorized testing centre, the result is not matching with that of the RSD,” informed the general secretary of City Suburban Bus Services, Tito Saha. As claimed by Mr Saha, the issue occurs because of the difference in technology of the machines used at the testing centres and the RSD.

The operators of the joint forum are, therefore, demanding that the installation of VLTD be given a relief until there is proper infrastructure available with the government to provide quick response. “In the present scenario, the money spent on the installation of the device is just getting wasted as the panic button is not being utilized due to delayed response. The losses would be more when the date of renewal of the device would come nearer and it would have to be renewed by paying further amounts of Rs 2,000,” he added.

The operators are also demanding a revision in the amount of fine against pollution certificates. At present, an operator is to pay a fine of Rs 10,000. The private bus operators are demanding a revision in the amount to Rs 2,000 like that of the state of Maharashtra.

According to sources, the state transport department would look into the matter but a solution would be done after the upcoming general elections.