Bhubaneswar: All Odisha Bus Owners Association (AOBOA) Tuesday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to allow three months time to bus operators to employ suitable conductors in passenger buses.
In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, AOBOA general secretary Debendra Sahoo appealed to him not to collect any penalty for next three months.
Sahoo also requested him to fix the minimum qualification to obtain conductor licence be fixed as Class VIII instead of Class X and fix a minimum penalty for violation of conductor licence.
In grave cases the fine may be extended up to Rs 10,000 instead of collecting a fine of Rs 10,000 straight away, he said.
As per the norm, the new passenger vehicles are granted fitness certificates for two years up to eight years thereafter for every one year but the bus operators are asked to submit Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate in every six months.
Sahoo requested the CM to direct the officials to issue PUC for one year and to impose a minimum penalty for its violation which may be extended up to Rs 10,000.
The AOBOA general secretary said except the BS-IV vehicles the passenger vehicles are not fitted with seat belts for drivers and requested the chief minister to give them at least two months time to help them fix seat belts for the drivers.