Hyderabad: Sleeper buses with registration numbers belonging to Arunachal Pradesh and other Northeastern states are plying in the two Telugu states, as travel companies, some of them owned by political leaders of TS and AP, are dodging state laws by registering their sleeper buses in Arunachal Pradesh to get the All India Permit and paying tax only for the seats and not the berths.
There is a clause that stipulates that buses must touch the home state during their journey, but these buses do not go to Arunachal Pradesh even for registration and ply between Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Hyderabad, and Chennai and Vijayawada.
The general manager of a prominent travel company said on condition of anonymity, “there is no provision in the Central Motor Vehicle Act rules to permit two-plus-one sleeper buses. When the APSRTC had asked the transport department for permission for two-plus-one sleeper berths, the latter had replied that it is contrary to the rules of the Central Motor Vehicle Act and it would be very difficult to enforce it as it would lead to newer headaches of two attached berths. How come that what is not allowed for RTC, is allowed for private buses?”
He added that most of these buses go to Northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland, where the yearly permit fee is a paltry '15,000 per annum, “but they run those vehicles from Hyderabad to Visakhapat-nam, Hyderabad to Mumbai and other destinations. Both AP and TS transport departments are aware of this but they are not acting on it.”
For instance, APSRTC’s Garuda service has a fixed tariff that is affordable and there is surge pricing. For Hyderabad to Bengaluru, a distance of 540 km, the fare is '950. These two-plus-one sleeper buses collect only '700 on normal days due to which RTC suffers and genuine operators also suffer. But they hike the price during peak days.
“There is another rule that says that the bus should touch the state that issues the permit either at the origin or destination of the journey. But none of them do that. Hundreds of buses plying in TS and AP haven't ever gone there,” he said.
TS transport authorities say that neither the AP and TS state motor vehicle rules, nor the Central rules have provision to register sleeper buses, but the North East states have amended the act.
TS Hyderabad Joint Transport Commissioner Panduranga Rao said, “They are getting All India Permit from Arunachal. These operators are changing the address of the Arunachal Pradesh registered number by going to Bengaluru in Karnataka. As there is no provision for sleeper tax, we are collecting tax per seat per quarter that comes to '1.6 lakh. Most of these bus operators belong to AP.”
When contacted, AP transport additional commissioner P. Srinivas refused to comment on the issue.
