Hundreds of private air-conditioned travel buses that were plying in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, but were registered in Arunachal Pradesh, were nothing short of ‘moving coffins’, a petition in the Hyderabad High Court claimed.
The petition filed by RTC trade union leader Varahala Naidu, alleged unsafe features in the design of buses, including expansion of the vehicle to fit in more berths in sleeper coaches.
After banning buses from Arunachal to ply in Andhra, the petitioner said that Government Order (GO) RT No. 367 was issued, which allowed these 'illegal' busses to run, if they deposited tax.
In May last year, politician-businessman and TDP MP Kesineni Srinivas, closed down the offices of Kesineni Travels, one of South India's largest private travel agencies, following a tiff with a bureaucrat in March.
The Vijayawada MP shut the company to protest what he had called, the illegal operations of the travel companies registered in other states.
It was reportedly his 'pressure tactic' to down the shutters on Kesineni Travels that began an investigation into the alleged violations.
A month later, the Arunachal Pradesh government's decided to cancel the registration and national permits of buses that were registered with them, but not plying in their state.
Following this, around 900 buses operating in Telangana and Andhra were reportedly cancelled.
Arunachal Pradesh Transport Commissioner B Siram wrote two letters to all the District Transport Officers in the State, and asked them to identify and crackdown on such operators, who violated the Central Motor Vehicle Act, 1989.
The private buses were registered in Arunachal Pradesh as it was cheaper at around Rs 17,000, compared to Rs 5 lakh in the Telugu states.
Rates were kept low in the north-eastern state to promote tourism.
At the time, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed the Transport Department to seize any private travel buses whose registrations had been cancelled