After lying low for a few weeks after winding up his transport operator business, Telugu Desam Party MP from Vijayawada Kesineni Nani is back in the news again for wrong reasons.
Nani, who had to tender unconditional apology to transport commissioner N Balasubrahmanyam for his high-handed behaviour recently, turned his ire on the transport department officials again, this time without naming anybody.
He alleged that the department has become corrupt and was least bothered to resolve the problems of the private transport operator who were doing their business legally and as per rules.
The reason for Nani’s anger is the latest cancellation of transport permits of 900 buses of Andhra operators by Arunachal Pradesh government on the ground that they got registered in Arunachal Pradesh, but were operating in Andhra Pradesh.
The operators were indulging in this trick to avoid payment of motor vehicle tax in AP. While the tax was just Rs 17,000 per year per bus, it was around Rs 7.5 lakh in AP.
So, these unscrupulous operators were getting their buses registered in Arunachal Pradesh but operating in AP. As per the rules, the buses should run within the state in which they get registered.
On coming to know about the violation of the rules, the Arunachal Pradesh government cancelled their permits and registrations.
“What is the transport department doing when Arunachal Pradesh registered buses are running in AP? They are not taking any action because they are corrupt,” he alleged.
