4,200 cabs, buses hired to carry poll staff, EVMs in city
Collectors of Island City and the suburbs, with help from the city’s four regional transport offices (RTO), will hire around 4,200 vehicles to transport staffers on election duty to and from the polling booths on Monday. The vehicles, including 1,900 black-and-yellow taxis, will be hired starting Saturday night.
“The vehicles that will used to transport staffers and the electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be fitted with tracking devices. These will be installed by private contractors,” said an RTO official, requesting anonymity. According to an RTO officer, they will merely hire the vehicle, while the collectors officer will make the payment as rates fixed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Transport Authority.
Of the 36 constituencies in Mumbai, 10 are located in the island city and 26 in the suburbs. Around 1,142 vehicles – including 533 black-and-yellow taxis and 537 buses – from the Tardeo RTO will be available in the island city. In addition, there will also be trucks and tempos plying on the road for this purpose. The Andheri, Wadala and Borivali RTOs will collectively provide more than 3,000 vehicles in the suburbs. This includes 1,471 taxis and 1,558 buses, nearly 100 trucks and tempos.
“The transport secretary has called a meeting in the Mantralaya for making the process of handing over the vehicles to the RTO smoother,” said a bus operator.