Advisor Bhatnagar reviews performance, functioning of Transport Deptt, JKRTC

SRINAGAR, October 16: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar today chaired a meeting to review the performance and functioning of Transport department and Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport Corporation (JKRTC) at Civil Secretariat here.

The meeting was attended by Secretary Transport department, Prasanna Ramaswamy G; Transport Commissioner, Rahul Sharma; Managing Director, JKRTC, Rakesh Kumar Srangal and other senior officers of Transport department as well as JKRTC.

During the meeting, Advisor Bhatnagar held extensive discussions on physical and financial aspects of department as well corporation besides other issues like service quality, safety measures, infrastructure development, and future plans for the improvement of public transportation services in J&K were also discussed in detail.

Addressing the officers during the meeting, Advisor Bhatnagar maintained that the present LG led Administration is committed to provide accessible and reliable transportation options to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and in that direction several initiatives were launched from last few years to achieve that goal. He emphasized on the importance of modernizing public transportation system with all advanced safety and security measures besides making them more environmentally sustainable.

While reviewing the performance and functioning of Transport department, the Advisor asked the officers to provide seamless services to the people with due adherence to Public Service Guarantee Act timelines. He also emphasized on them to monitor the data on Vahan portal effectively so that any fraud of vehicles is detected timely.

Deliberating on the steps taken for reducing road accidents, Advisor Bhatnagar emphasized upon the officers to analyse the data of Integrated Road Accident Database (iRDA) portal efficaciously. He stressed upon them to implement intelligent solutions in consultation with other stakeholders and technical experts in order to reduce road accidents.

The Advisor also asked them to install speed checks on critical junctions on highways as well as other interjections for reducing traffic incidents.

Advisor Bhatnagar further asked the officers to study the feasibility of conducting hill driving training course for all the government drivers owing to the hilly terrain roads of Jammu and Kashmir. He also asked them to organise awareness camps regarding safe driving in taxi stands, bus stands and other public spaces to generate maximum awareness among the intended audience.

While reviewing the performance and functioning of JKRTC, Advisor Bhatnagar impressed upon the management of corporation for effective utilisation of staff with deployment of staff technical sections after proper training.

He remarked that with the infusion of new fleet in the corporation, there is a huge potential for revenue generation now. He directed the management of the corporation to utilise the assets of corporation effectively and make it a much profitable entity.

The Advisor further asked the management of corporation to initiate steps for generating the revenue for corporation through other means. He asked them to study the  feasibility of generating revenue through display of advertisements on JKRTC buses regarding various schemes of government departments should be looked into.

During the meeting, Transport Commissioner and Managing Director JKRTC gave detailed presentation on the performance and functioning of department and corporation respectively.