Sale of pvt vehicles to spur due to virus threat: Parab

Nagpur: The Covid-19 lockdown and a drastic decline in the use of public transport have severely hit the revenue of regional transport department across the state, leading to shortage of funds in the state government, according Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab.
The minister was in the city on Saturday to review the transport department’s operation.
Parab hoped that the transport department could make up for the income deficit over the remaining six months of this fiscal. The review meeting of the minister was attended by RTO Dinkar Manwar, deputy RTOs Vijay Chavhan, Bajrang Kharmate, Vinod Jadhav, Atul Ade among others.
The minister said the department may see a spike in its revenue generation as demand for private vehicles may rise as people have stopped using public transport in many major cities including Mumbai and Pune due to coronavirus scare.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Vidarbha Autorickshaw Chalak Federation led by its president Vilas Bhalekar met Parab and demanded Rs10 lakh compensation to the next of kin of autorickshaw drivers who committed suicide due to the lockdown.
He also demanded implementation of the old format for renewal of autorickshaw permits instead of scrapping vehicles. Bhalekar also drew the minister’s attention towards over two-month waiting period in conducting driving license tests and demanded more slots for autorickshaw drivers. Autorickshaw drivers also demanded to reduce the fine amount for renewal of permits from Rs5,500 to Rs200.