Old monopoly rules

Jupinderjit Singh

In the first two years of its tenure, the Capt Amarinder Singh government’s efforts in the transport sector have left much to be desired. 

The promise to provide bus permits to the unemployed youth has not been fulfilled. Even the crackdown on the alleged transport mafia, where one or two transporters were influencing the daily timetable to their advantage continued similar to the SAD-BJP regime.

Many times, small transporters alleged that the government had not tried to check the monopoly of the trade due to which small or medium-scale carriers were selling buses. Nearly 100 buses have been sold to big transporters. Moreover, the previous government had decreased the tax rates for the private transporters while the government or the public sector corporation buses had to pay more. The practice is still on. As a result, the PRTC and the Punjab Roadways are struggling to compete. Also, the Badals private buses were given more than 450 permits on the main routes, exclusively meant for the PRTC and the Punjab Roadways.

Overall, the Congress government has been unsuccessful in breaking the monopoly and illegalities in trade. It did promise many reforms by introducing a new transport policy, which was notified in August last year and aimed at regulating the timetable equally for private and public sector buses. However, the policy is yet to be implemented.