Officers from across the state Police department have submitted their written grievance on deduction of Rs. 300 from their monthly salaries towards the road bus pass service by the Road Transport Department. This fee is being taken as a charge for Travel Pass on roadways buses.  This deduction began after a recent order by the RTO, as per the grievance.

Police officials said that as per the orders of the Joint Secretary (Home Ministry) that were passed on 6 September, the amount of deduction by the Road Transportation Department has been increased to Rs. 300 from policemen while it is Rs.200 from other government officials.  These deductions are neither  justifiable nor any of the policeman is happy with it as it will be a burden for the lower cadre as the salaries in the police department are among the lowest. The grievance letter has been addressed to the Inspector General of Police Udaipur Range.

The letter also places the responsibility on the officials of the RTO, saying that they often pass new orders with the intention to stop the travel pass facility for police department.

In the letter to the IGP Udaipur range, officials mentioned that they will accept the deduction of Rs.200 from their monthly salaries only if there will be no interstate limitation on the passes for the policemen. Also the rule restricting the travel of 5 policemen in a bus together at same time needs to be removed. Further, they have requested that they should be allowed to board either Deluxe or Semi-Deluxe buses using the same pass. They also mentioned in the letter that their RFID CARDS should be renewed and updated during the travel at the time of giving the tickets by the conductor and they should also be given the facility of OTP at the time of providing the ticket. This demand has been made to ensure that the fake tickets being generated in the name of the police officers who are already using the Travel Pass. Along with that they also demanded that the amount of deduction from the monthly salaries for the travel passes that has been raised to Rs.300 should be reduced to Rs.200. 

In their letter to IPG the police officials have also highlighted that the in the official order of the Road Transportation Department it is always written ‘Free Travel Pass Facility’ for policemen.  The police officials in the letter demanded that if this is the case, and if money is being charged, then the order of the RTO should be amended and the word “Free” needs to be removed.  They also demanded that if the in future the facility of the travel passes continues than it should be considered only as Travel Pass for Policemen instead of ‘Free’ Travel Passes for Policemen.