Indus Valley Times

By Sukant Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 27: Bhubaneswar Regional Transport Office (RTO) has lodged a case against online cab aggregator companies like OLA, Uber, Rapido for operating in the state capital and adjoining areas without valid licenses.

According to Bhubaneswar-I RTO authorities, the aggregators are required to obtain license from the concerned agencies of the state where they want to operate as per the section 93 (iii) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

“The government notified the aggregator policy (Odisha On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Guidelines, 2023) on April 20, 2023. However, the aggregators are yet to apply for license as per the policy despite repeated meetings and issuing of notices. They are also hiring private two wheelers in their services violating the rules,” said Bikash Chandra Choudhury, RTO, Bhubaneswar-I.

“The policy allows the aggregators to use only transport vehicles. We also issued several notices to them and held discussions with the aggregators during meetings, even at the Commissioner level. But, they are still operating sans license. So, we registered a case against these companies with the police on Tuesday,” Choudhury added.

Different private vehicle owners associations in the city had also complained to the authorities against the aggregators for engaging private motor cycles in commercial activities in the city.

Police sources stated that they have sought all the relevant documents from the RTO on this issue. The cops will take action against online aggregator firms after examining the documents, sources informed.