Yogi govt to launch crackdown against RTO touts

e-Challans are a bid to remove Regional Transport Offices of touts by Yogi Adityanath government.

Allahabad, May 1: Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is planning to introduce the system of e-challans for payment of road taxes in a bid to rid Regional Transport Offices of touts, Transport Minister Swatantra Dev Singh said on Saturday.

"Our government has accorded priority to ridding RTOs across the state of the menace of 'dalals' touts. As a step in this direction, we are going to bring in the system of e-challans," Singh told reporters.

He said, "We are committed to ensuring that the system of e-challans starts functioning as soon as possible. We have set a deadline of 100 days and we are confident of attaining the objective within time."

Replying to a query, the transport minister said that "The Kumbh Mela of 2019 may be more than a year away. But the Yogi Adityanath government has started making plans for the mega religious congregation during which Allahabad is visited by crores of pilgrims."

"The transport department, on its part, has decided to ply an additional 10,000 buses for ferrying pilgrims to and from the city for the period when the Ardh Kumbh will be underway," the minister said.

The minister, who was here to review the functioning of a bus depot in Civil Lines and a workshop of the transport department in Rajapur, said, "Officials have been instructed to draw a roadmap within a month for connecting all villages in Allahabad and adjoining districts through bus routes."

PTI