HYDERABAD: The Telangana transport department which started a crackdown on taxi/cab services operating ‘illegally’ in Hyderabad and Cyberabad police commissionerate limits, booked 79 cases for violation of rules in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts on Thursday and seized 68 taxis.
The department started their crackdown on taxis from Wednesday in the wake of a woman being allegedly raped by an Uber cab driver in Delhi.
On Thursday, the transport department officials focused on IT hub of the city like Madhapur, Hitech City, Gachibowli and adjoining areas and found many of the drivers not having driving license, fitness certificate for vehicles.
Joint transport commissioner of Hyderabad T Raghunath said that Telangana is the only state after Delhi in cracking a whip against taxis violating rules.
The Telangana transport department has already announced that no permission was granted to Uber taxi services to operate in the state, he said.
Two teams of five and three members were formed to conduct checks in the city limits.
However, officials said that much more can be done if they had adequate man power at their disposal.
Cyber Laws or MV Rules?
While a note was sent to Telangana transport commissioner M Jagadeeswar stating that the department did not give any permission to Uber taxi services, the department does not seem to have send notices to other mobile App based taxi services to fall in line and take due permission. Much to the bewilderment, an official from the department said that the App-based taxi services comes under Cyber Laws and they cannot send notices to those companies. The transport commissioner could not be reached through phone for clarity over the issue.
GPRS in All Public Transport Vehicles
To keep a tab on all transport options available to people, the transport and police departments are mulling introduction of GPRS system in all public transport vehicles like school buses, private buses, taxis and other travel modes. However, the state’s Motor Vehicle Rules have to be amended if the system were to be introduced. “We are mulling this system and planning to recommend it to the government. A centralized monitoring facility would be provided to keep track of the vehicles. The state’s MV Rules have to be amended to introduce this system,” B Venkateswarlu, joint transport commissioner of RTA’s vigilance and legal wing, said.