Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today chaired a meeting of the top functionaries of Transport Department on the Taxi Aggregator Scheme here at the Civil Secretariat. During the meeting, the Lt Governor reviewed the preparedness for the Application and SMS based Taxi Aggregator Scheme coming up in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.Sh. Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor; Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance; Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon , Principal Secretary, Transport Department; Sh. Owais Ahmed, Transport Commissioner, J&K; Sh. Rahul Sharma, Special Secretary, Transport Department; Sh. Dhananter Singh, Regional Transport Officer, Jammu and other senior officers attended the meeting.The Lt Governor directed the officers to call the Expression of Interest (EoI) for implementing the scheme within a period of one month. Before calling the EoI, consultation with all the stakeholders should also be done so that existing operators also have the equal opportunity, he added.The Lt Governor further directed the officers to put the requisite regulations in the scheme to ensure quality of services, safety, vehicle profile, drivers’ credentials, regulation of fares, arrangement of services and general conditions to be observed by the licensee. Profile and antecedents of drivers shall be thoroughly checked to ensure the reliability, and tariff shall be regularized by the Transport Department, especially the maximum cap to be fixed, he added.
The Lt Governor asked the Transport Department to prepare a Data Base enlisting all the details of the licenses, vehicles, drivers and operators, which shall be notified for the public. He laid special emphasis on making the health check-ups of all the drivers mandatory. He observed that the upcoming scheme is an excellent opportunity for the skilled youth, start-ups, IT Professionals and taxi operators from J&K to participate in the Taxi Aggregator Scheme.The meeting was informed that for ensuring safety and security of the passengers, the taxis, auto-rickshaws and other permit vehicles operating under the Taxi Aggregator Scheme shall be fitted with Vehicle Tracking Device, GPS, GPRS devices along with webcam and prescribed emergency button.Meanwhile, the Lt Governor directed the Transport Department to rationalize the timings of Road Transport Corporation (RTC) Buses and also directed for pollution checking of private commercial vehicles. He asked them to draw a comprehensive plan for the condemnation and disposal of 20 years old vehicles. The Lt Governor further directed the officers to ensure that all the new Government vehicles shall be BS-6 compliant in terms of emission standards.The Lt Governor passed directions for preparing a plan for the decongestion of Amphalla- Janipur road, incorporating Multi-level parking for which the land shall be identified by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC).