Pune Police, RTO Takes Action Against 58 Luxury Buses for Overcharging
Sumit Singh
Pune, October 27, 2019: The Pune City Police and the RTO intensified action against private luxury buses who were charging exorbitant fares from passengers ahead of Diwali festival. It was observed that the bus operations were charging 3-5 times the normal fares.
On Saturday, action was taken against 13 buses, while on Wednesday action was taken against 45 buses. Officials said that after the previous action some bus operators had relented.
According to Pune traffic police and regional transport office (RTO) officials, the bus operators cannot charge more than 1.5 times the normal fare charged by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses. However, it was seen that many buses starting from Sangamwadi bus stand, under Yerwada traffic division, were charging high fares.
Ahead of the Diwali rush, DCP (traffic) Pankaj Deshmukh had convened a meeting of bus operators and conveyed the government decision of not charging more than prescribed fare.
However, many operators were still charging high fares. The police had received complaints on WhatsApp number (8411800100) as well as their Twitter handle @PuneCityTraffic Accordingly, the action was taken against buses. In future if they continue to charge more fare, then criminal (extortion) cases will be registered against them, said Police Inspector Ramesh Sathe of Yerwada traffic division.
