Issue of illegal taxis at Mohali airport raised in Punjab Assembly

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, November 28

The issue of unauthorised taxis plying outside the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International (SBSI) Airport leading to loss of public exchequer was raised by Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh in the Assembly Session today.

Singh said unauthorised taxis plying at the airport has become a cause of frequent altercations among the taxi unions members and drivers, expressing fears about law and order situation.

“ I don’t think any action is being taken against them. I have written to the State Transport Authority, Transport Department and Mohali SSP, but to no avail. Thousands of passengers board taxis from here. If the issue is not resolved soon, one day it may lead to loss of life and property if commuters,” Singh said in the House

Replying to Mohali MLA’s question, Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said, “Most of the OLA, Uber taxis plying in Tricity are registered in Chandigarh. The government levies tax on commercial vehicles with yellow registration plates. If the MLA has noticed private vehicles operating as commercial, he may intimate us.”

Frequent incidents of clashes between rival taxi unions members, unauthorised car drivers, and overcharging by web application based taxis are reported at the international airport in Mohali.

On March 5, Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh during the Budget session had raised the issue of replacing junctions with roundabouts in Mohali city. Nine months later, there has been no concrete progress on the ground. As many as 12 rotaries were proposed, but not one has come up till now. The then Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Aman Arora, had said the 14-km PR-7 Road from the Airport chowk to the Kharar-Chandigarh highway had 12 light points, increasing travel time for commuters and making it an accident-prone zone.

No plan to upgrade CHC

In a query to upgrade Dhakoli CHC, Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh said there is no plan to upgrade the CHC to sub divisional Hospital but the facility would be expanded from 30 bed to 50 bed first referral unit.

Govt says no to Issapur-Shatabhgarh causeway

Over one lakh residents of 20 villages and Dera Bassi town will have to wait for causeway between Issapur and Shatabhgarh as the government has no plans to build a causeway on around 1 acre land. “Since the road is unmetalled there is no provision for building a causeway on it,” Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, replied to a query by Dera Bassi MLA Kuljit Singh Randhawa in the House