Ludhiana: Transporters protest against pendency of vehicle permits

Expressing their dissatisfaction with the delay in the approval of commercial vehicle permits, transporters from Ahmedgarh and Payal staged a protest outside the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) office in Ludhiana on Monday.

Soon after the transporters began their protest, the RTA authorities closed both entrance gates and deployed police personnel to prevent any demonstration within the office premises. To address the issue, RTA officials call in some transporters to discuss their concerns, providing assurances that approvals for all vehicles would be expedited.

However, despite the assurance, the transporters continued their protest until the approval for their commercial vehicles was granted. They mentioned that similar protests had been staged in the past with promises that their work would be completed within one or two days, but even after more than a month, approvals were not issued, leaving them with no choice but to protest again. They claimed that If approvals were not granted by the evening, they planned to continue the protest indefinitely.

Harman Singh, a transporter from Sangrur, who had purchased a commercial vehicle from Ludhiana three months ago, had applied for NOCs. However, despite multiple visits and repeated document uploads, he had not received the NOCs yet. His vehicles were still in Ludhiana, and he had already paid insurance of ₹65,000.

RTA secretary Poonampreet Kaur said, “Most of the applications were approved on Monday only as they are moved in a particular time frame and are not that old. The department had set specific time frames for different processes. Some commercial vehicles required a 21-day period for approval, while others had submitted documents by September 25. Their IDs were nearly complete, and the rest would be completed shortly.”