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Monday, February 7, 2011

Tadoba tourist gypsies must comply with RTO norms before Feb 28

CHANDRAPUR: Alarmed by the blatant violation of traffic related regulations by tourist gypsy vehicles in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), forest authorities have initiated measures to rein in the violators. While TATR administration has announced a deadline for seeking of tourist permit and other necessary clearances from RTO office for gypsy operators, all these vehicles are being checked for illegally installed gas kits (CNG units) and overloading of passengers.

RTO officials here had discovered that majority of tourist gypsies plying in TATR here do not have their registration at Chandrapur RTO office. While many such tourist vehicles were registered in districts other than Chandrapur, a few of them have their registration in Andhra Pradesh. If Chandrapur RTO is to give tourist permit to these vehicles, they first have to be registered here. However, this has not been done for many vehicles.

Moreover, none of these gypsies has a tourist permit mandatory for carrying tourists on commercial basis. RTO also had received complaints about these vehicle boarding more than permissible carrying capacity of passengers and some of them had even installed illegal gas kits without approval of RTO authorities. TOI had reported about this violation of tourist vehicles in TATR on January 23. After learning about the violation of norms, TATR authorities have now initiated measures check abuse of traffic related laws in their territory.

CF and field director, TATR, Vinaykumar Sinha said that forest department is coordinating with RTO authorities to check the violations. "There are around 43 tourist gypsies plying in TATR. We have asked all gypsy operators to seek the necessary tourist permit and other RTO related clearances by the end of February. No gypsy without valid documents would be allowed to enter TATR after the deadline," said Sinha.

He said, "We had asked the RTO officials to hold a meeting with the union of tourist gypsy operators and guide them about the regulations and clearances regarding traffic laws. As soon as RTO gives consent, a meeting would be convened to facilitate the smooth implementation of law." President of tourist gypsy operator union in TATR, Sanjay Mankar, had earlier agreed that they are ready to seek necessary tourist permits if it is mandatory.

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