A Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Kohima meeting was convened by Kohima DC, Anoop Khinchi in his office chambers recently attended by all concerned members of the RTA.
DIPR, in a report stated that in the meeting, the members discussed at length various issues in regard to traffic congestion and commercial transport system etc. and decided to take up the following steps in order to address the issues: i) remove building and other materials still dumped on the roadsides; ii) intimate roadside vendors to follow instructions of the Kohima Municipal Council (KMC); and iii) not use “the stand areas,” which have been made for pedestrians.
On the traffic congestion issue, the meeting discussed the feasibility of using North side – Local Ground area for public vehicle parking and also the earmarking of certain areas for parking of shop-owner vehicles. Regarding city buses, the meeting decided to come up with certain pick up and drop points instead of using stations. It also decided to direct buses to ply only on designated routes as in their permits. It further discussed uniforms with name tags for taxi drivers. The members decided to take up the issues for further discussion with concerned stakeholders.
In regard to Taxi permits, the meeting deliberated on the issues of local/regional taxi permit holders, and decided that permit holders should drive their own taxis and reminded permit holders that taxi permits are not transferable, therefore open advertisement for sale of local/regional permits in Newspapers is illegal. The meeting also decided that enforcement teams would be conducting frequent checks so that only authorized persons drive taxis. The members further pointed out that local taxis require special permits to ply out of the Municipal limit.