HC questions confiscation of buses for Sonia rally

BATHINDA: Sonia Gandhi came Bathinda on Thursday and left, recharging the party workers and leaders for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. But the large-scale arrangements made to receive Sonia and put an impressive gathering at the rally has left the district transport authorities sulking.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the district transport officer (DTO) and station house officer (SHO) Civil Line police station Bathinda to appear in the court on January 22 to explain the alleged confiscation of a mini bus of a private transporter.
Following a writ petition by Jagdish Puri, a transport of Moga, alleging illegal seizure of his bus by DTO Bathinda for ferrying Congress party workers to attend party rally, the High Court had appointed a warrant officer on January 14 who raided the DTO office Bathinda late evening on Wednesday and recovered the impounded bus, parked in front of the police station and district administration complex here.
On the oral directions of the Punjab government, hundreds of private buses were rounded up by the district transport authorities over the state to ferry Congress party workers to Bathinda from all corners of the state. The party had fixed a target of reaching one lakh people in the rally.
The transporters were reportedly directed to send their vehicles, buses and trucks, to the offices of DTOs in their respective districts a day before the rally.
Jagdish Puri had reportedly declined to comply with the directions of the DTO and the latter rounded up his bus, plying between Nihal Singh Wala and Bhagta Bhai town, on January 13 and taken all its documents in his possession. Aggrieved at the DTO’s alleged illegal action, Puri approached the High Court.
Sucha Singh Mast, DTO Bathinda declined of impounding the bus belonging to Puri. He said that he did not know who brought the bus here. The civil line police authorities also declined of recovery of the bus by the WO from its custody. The bus was not recovered from police station premises, said the police authorities.
In his deposition to the WO, the driver of the bus also reportedly blamed the DTO for seizing of the bus and its papers.
Despite denial by the DTO of confiscating the bus, the authorities admitted in private of impounding about 1700 truck and buses over the state to ferry the people to the rally. "It is an open secret but still officially we can''t admit it", said a senior officer here.
The transporters are anguished with the transport authorities for targeting only the small transporters who own one to three buses. Be it in Akalis or Congress regime, for every rally our buses and trucks are impounded, never the buses of big transporters for these being owned by political leaders, said a transporter here, having two mini buses.
Badal and Avtar Henry are two biggest transporters of the state but never their buses are pressed into service of ferry people in their own rallies, he said.