Puducherry govt to set up PUTA to meet transport needs

Puducherry, Sep 19: The Puducherry government today announced that it will soon establish a 'Puducherry Urban Transport Authority' (PUTA) in order to meet the transport requirements of commuters in the union territory.

Revenue and Transport Minister M O H F Shahjahan told reporters here that the PUTA would soon be set up and it would be the licensing authority for private bus operators to ply intra state buses. He said, the Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) needed 300 more buses to meet the public transport needs.

But, this is an impossible venture for the Corporation, which had been suffering losses. Hence, instead of the PRTC purchasing and operating the buses, it would act as a facilitator to encourage private fleet operators to operate services, he said.

"Presently, only 20 percent of the total population of Puducherry were utilising the bus services of the Corporation," he said adding with the PRTC being in the red, the system of encouraging private players had been contemplated through the PUTA.

PTI