Transport dept drive: 5k vehicles challaned, 1,400 seized in two weeks for operating sans permits
“The exercise, carried out in coordination with the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) across all 19 divisions in the state, targeted illegal buses, cabs, and passenger vehicles operating without valid permits or route authorisations,” additional transport commissioner (enforcement) Sanjay Singh said.
In a state-wide crackdown against unauthorised passenger transport in Uttar Pradesh, enforcement teams of the transport department issued nearly 5,000 challans and seized over 1,400 vehicles during a drive carried on identified routes between October 3 and 16.
“The exercise, carried out in coordination with the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) across all 19 divisions in the state, targeted illegal buses, cabs, and passenger vehicles operating without valid permits or route authorisations,” additional transport commissioner (enforcement) Sanjay Singh said.
The drive-related data culled from the transport department shows that Ghaziabad led the enforcement chart with 437 challans and 193 vehicle seizures, followed by Agra (349 challans, 108 seizures) and Moradabad (324, 101).
Officials said the National Capital Region (NCR) belt remains a hotspot due to heavy intercity cab and bus movement towards Delhi. Varanasi and Gonda also reported high violations, largely on busy inter-district and religious tourism routes.
At the other end, Banda with 125 and Ayodhya with 216 challans showed fewer cases, though Ayodhya stood out for efficiency, seizing 36% of the vehicles it booked -- among the highest in the state.
Category-wise, the biggest violators were large passenger vehicles such as buses and travellers running unauthorisedly on routes like Varanasi-Shahganj, Kanpur-Etawah and Lucknow-Ayodhya-Gorakhpur.
Unauthorised cabs were concentrated in NCR divisions, while tempos and vans dominated the violations in semi-rural belts such as Mirzapur, Azamgarh and Basti.
Data also shows regional contrasts. Western UP divisions (Ghaziabad, Agra, Meerut, Aligarh) accounted for over 1,300 challans, mainly for overcapacity and permit breaches; eastern UP (Varanasi, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur) logged over 1,200, largely for private operators running passenger services illegally.
“Unauthorised operations rampant on certain routes not only deprive UPSRTC of passengers, who would otherwise travel by its buses, but also cause tax loss to the government by operating without valid permits,” a senior transport official said.
Officials described the drive as one of the biggest coordinated actions of the year, with multiple divisions maintaining daily checks during the two-week period. “The figures also revealed a recurring pattern of repeat offenders, underscoring the need for sustained enforcement to curb unauthorised operations in the state’s high-traffic corridors,” the official said.
Many view the unauthorised operation of passenger vehicles as a fallout of the demand-supply gap left unaddressed by authorised UPSRTC and private buses.
“People care more about convenience and availability than about whether the vehicle they are using has a valid permit,” an official said.
