SHILLONG: Urban Affairs Minister, RV Lyngdoh has directed the Director of Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to issue a stringent written order to the Shillong Public Transport Service (SPTS) bus operators to behave decently and not to indulge in reckless driving in the city.
The directive came from the Minister after the driver and the conductor of a SPTS bus were arrested by police for assaulting the headman of Laitumkhrah.
“I have told him to give a written order to the operators that such incident should not happen in future and if such things happen again, we will take action against the operators and not the drivers,” Lyngdoh said.
Lyngdoh has also given clear instructions that all the buses should not drive recklessly failing which they would be penalized.
The statement of the Minister assumes significance since there has been several complaints of SPTS buses indulging in reckless driving.
Maintaining that the whole problem in the functioning of the buses came up right from the beginning when Government went for bidding process to hand over the buses to operators, Lyngdoh reiterated that the buses should have been handed over to those agencies who have experience in public transport system.
“However, there is still time and I am going to review it soon,” he said.
The Minister also said that he would soon issue a fresh direction to ensure that the drivers and conductors of the buses dress properly.
Recently, it was seen that a driver of a SPTS bus in Pyntrhorumkhrah was driving the bus wearing a vest while he had tied his uniform on his forehead.