Government to introduce all-India permit for tourist buses

To facilitate seamless movement of tourist buses across Indian States, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) introduced a system for an All-India permit (AIP) or national permit for long distance tourist buses playing across the country, according to  the ministry website.

As per the new plan, once the AIP is collected the central government will distribute the same to various States and Union Territories (UTs). The government will charge annual fees from tourist operators based on the type and size of the buses. The rates are Rs 50,000 for ordinary tourist buses, Rs 75,000 for luxury tourist buses and Rs 100,000 for super luxury tourist buses.

Vijay Chibber, secretary of MoRTH, spoke about the new law while addressing the 15^th National Road Safety Council and 36^th Meeting of the Transport Development Council where representatives of various states and Union Territories were present yesterday in Delhi. He also emphasized the ministry’s initiatives to provide basic facilities to road under the Swaachch Bharat Mission 

Earlier, every tour operator had to pay separate annual fees to every state for operating in those respective states. This is a bold reform initiated by the government as a consensus between various state government and Union territories was necessary.

The State Governments/UTs agreed on the proposed scheme for development of large bus terminals. These being viable projects as implemented in many states, are targeted for providing better amenities to the passengers in transit. They will also try to integrate the passenger facilities and movement between various modes of transport like the road-train-metro. The government of India will fund a large part of the expenditure towards project preparation and management consultancy.