Alagiri alleges omni bus owners-AIADMK nexus

Remarking that omni bus operators have increased the fare manifold, exploiting the demand from people who turn up to them for want of government buses, Alagiri claimed that a non-AC sleeper bus ticket operated to Salem from Chennai on Wednesday has been priced at Rs 500, but the same ticket costsRs 1,570 on Friday.

Opining that people were moving to omni buses because the 11,000 special buses announced by the state transport department were not adequate, the TNCC president said that omni bus fare to other places were similarly overpriced with the operators collecting the exorbitant fare blatantly online.

Wondering what was the reason behind the state transport department being a mute spectator to the blatant fleecing, which helps omni bus operators rake in a moolah, despite availability of adequate Motor Vehicles rules to discipline them, the state Congress chief said the omni bus owners were operating freely with the cooperation of the ruling AIADMK, which was being paid a lumpsum by the operators for overlooking the excesses.

Drawing the state government’s attention to many omni buses in Tamil Nadu bearing other state registration numbers, especially north eastern states, the TNCC chief said that only Rs 18,000 was collected as road tax annually per bus in north eastern states, whereas Rs 54,000 is collected in TN. Seeking to know why the state transport department was helping omni bus operators enjoy such concessions, Alagiri questioned the operation of omni buses registered in other states in Tamil Nadu and said that buses registered in other states could be banned in Tamil Nadu besides regulating omni buses registered in the state.