School and college buses were used to transport AIADMK workers from across the city to the venue of MGR Centenary celebrations at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam, Chennai, on Sunday. However, using vehicles belonging to educational institutions for other activities stands in violation of Section 2 (11) of the Motor Vehicles’ Act, which explicitly states that such vehicles can only be used to transport students and staff of the institution in connection with any of its activities.
However, the buses were used as ‘private service vehicles’ on Sunday to ferry the AIADMK cadre to Nandanam. While private buses have to pay a tax of Rs 500 per person per quarter, vehicles of educational institutions are only taxed Rs 50 to 100 per person per quarter, according to a TOI report.
In order to operate buses of educational institutions privately, a temporary permit has to be obtained from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) functioning under the State Transport Department.
Apart from buses, public transport such as MTC and Mofussil buses were diverted from their usual routes to cater to those moving to Nandanam.
According to a TOI report, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) responded by saying that the routes of public buses were diverted to cater to the excess crowd to Nandanam on Sunday.
As a result of excess crowds, traffic on certain parts of the city, including on Marina, was disrupted as over 5000 buses made its way to the venue.
Among the places that witnessed the worst traffic were Marina, Perungalathur on GST Road, Anna Salai, Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and Guindy.
Apart from the traffic, hoardings by the AIADMK blocked the footpaths of the major roads in the city and were eventually directed to be removed by the Madras High Court.