Sharing a list of transport mafia in a letter to Punjab Transport Minister Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday asked him why no action was taken against 5,000 permits of private buses which have been increased five times.

Sending proofs through a letter to Warring that how the transport mafia of political leaders looted Punjab’s exchequer during the rule of Akali and the Congress Government and how it was emptied, AAP’s Punjab spokesperson and RTI activist advocate Dinesh Chadha said the bus permits issued by the Transport Department specify the limits of permits for government buses and private buses.

“For example, in 1990, the quota for public and private permits on state highways was 50:50 percent. But since then, with the connivance of the Akali and the Congress government, the transport policy had been violated to issue permits to politicians beyond the private quota,” he said, adding to abolish the Government quota indirectly, the permits of private buses were increased five times and one permit was increased 10 times.

Chadha, along with the letter, sent the list of bus permits of Orbit and New Deep Transport as evidence and informed the Minister that Orbit’s 32 kms route from Muktsar to Malout has been extended six times to 147 kms till Moga, the 56 kms route from Ferozepur to Muktsar has been extended 10 times to 147 kms, the 190 kms route from Raman to Ludhiana has been extended to 277 kms till Jhugian Garhshankar, among others.

Similarly, Jaito-Gidderbaha 100 kms route of New Deep Bus has been made 328 kms and Bathinda-Mehma 138 kms route has been made 237 kms. “These are just a few examples of looting of public exchequer by making about 5,000 such illegal additions,” he added.

AAP leader also pointed out that the High Court also made it clear in its December 2012 judgment that these illegal increases in permits to benefit private buses are bound to eliminate Government buses. “However, to date, no action has been taken on these nearly 5,000 illegal permits and no action has been taken against the officials and leaders responsible for these permits,” he added

The party demanded that the Transport Minister should immediately revoke thousands of such permits and file cases against the officials and politicians responsible for this.