Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today directed the Transport Department to increase the fleet as well as the frequency of Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport Corporation buses for the convenience of the general public across Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.The Lt. Governor passed these directions while reviewing the functioning of Transport Department in a meeting here at the Civil Secretariat.Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance; Sh. Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor; Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Principal Secretary, Transport Department and Sh. Owais Ahmed, Transport Commissioner attended the meeting.Emphasizing on efficient and effective operations, the Lt. Governor directed the officers to ensure optimum utilization of the existing fleet of buses. He observed that a rational deployment and notification of the scheduling of operational vehicles along with routes is prerequisite to improve transport connectivity.The Lt. Governor directed the officers to identify hungry routes and increase the frequency and number of vehicles plying on such routes to meet the demands of the people.
He also asked the department to devise a comprehensive plan for the creation of scrap yards for disposal of outdated and phased out vehicles.Stressing on the importance of road safety, the Lt. Governor entrusted upon all the stake holders to take effective measures in order to reduce the rate of traffic related accidents with special focus on hilly areas.The Lt. Governor further directed the officers to organize health camps for conducting regular health checkups of drivers and conductors of all JKRTC and other commercial vehicles. He further instructed them to keep a strict vigil to ensure that all vehicle owners must have third party vehicle insurance.The Lt. Governor also enquired about the frequency of eco friendly public transportation plying on the routes of Jammu and Srinagar cities.The meeting was informed that there are total 643 operative vehicles including 389 buses and 319 trucks in the existing fleet position of J&K Road Transport Corporation. The chair was also briefed about the recent initiative of Transport Department for the procurement of 40-Buses for Srinagar and Jammu cities and 36 Buses for hilly, accident prone areas.