Chandigarh, January 12
Heavy entry fee levied by the Punjab government on taxi cabs is likely to be withdrawn or reduced substantially in a few days. Sources said a meeting of the taxi cab operators would be held with state transport commissioner R. Venkataratnam on Tuesday to resolve the issue.
A deputation of taxi operators recently met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to urge him the entry fee levied on taxi cabs by the government be withdrawn. Badal had asked his adviser Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, to take up the issue with the Transport Department to resolve it.
Recently, the government issued a notification levying Rs 300 entry fee per trip on small commercial vehicles and Rs 600 per trip on bigger vehicles not registered in Punjab. It caused resentment among taxi operators based in Chandigarh, Ambala and other towns in states bordering Punjab.
Taxi operators had told Badal no one would hire taxi to pay Rs 300 as additional charge for a trip up to Ropar or even Nawanshahr, Patiala, Ludhiana etc from Chandigarh. As Chandigarh is Punjab’s capital and most of the people from this city travel to various parts of the state, they would face difficulty. Moreover, taxi cabs are operated by unemployed youths by buying these with bank loan. Mostly these youths belonged to Punjab. The government should not take away their jobs as taxicab operators.
Dr Cheema said the problem faced by taxicab operators appeared to be genuine and the issue was discussed with the state transport commissioner. He had been urged to resolve the problem at the earliest.
Taxi operators said old pattern of charging quarterly fee of Rs 750 on small commercial vehicles and Rs 2,000 on bigger vehicles should be kept intact and per trip entry fee system recently notified should be withdrawn.
Earlier, the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking had opposed the raising of the road tax from 50 paise per km to Rs 5 per km on its buses plying on Punjab routes. As a protest, the CTU had withdrawn its buses from main routes and nearby towns. However, later conceding the demand raised by the CTU,
the Punjab government had assured it the issue would be resolved soon.
