Imphal, April 18: In the absence of insurance coverage, many vehicles which are into transport service but do not registered themselves as commercial vehicles are said to be posing serious threat to the lives of its passengers besides depriving them of insurance benefit as and when accident occurred.

This matter should be seriously considered by the people, an official of Transport Department told the The Sangai Express.

While noting that over 1200 jeeps are ferrying passengers and helping them in their movement in the State, the official disclosed that some of these Jeeps are not insured as they do not possess the required documents.

So when these vehicles met with accident, they could not provide insurance benefit to the passengers when they got injure or kill in such mishaps, the official expressed concerned.

A jeep plying as Taxi paid tax to the tune of Rs 1400 in a year as against Rs 450 being paid by a private jeep.

Maruti Vans which are in great demands for marriage processions, long distanced journey and for ferrying school going children paid Rs 260 as tax in a year as they are registered as private vehicles.

While auto-rickshaws which come under the categories of commercial vehicles are paying Rs 500 annu- ally as taxes to the Government, the official said, explaining that the though an Auto-Rickshaw passenger could enjoy insurance benefit when accident took place, the same benefit could not be expected from private vehicles like the Maruti Vans.

The official further informed that the Transport Department is making arrangement for registering all the Maruti Vans which are parked at North AOC, Family Welfare Department Road, Kangla Park, JN Hospital, RIMS and other places for public hiring as �Contract Vans� and made them to pay Rs 500 as taxes annually.

This is being done to cover accident insurance for the passenger, he said.

The official also mooted a similar arrange-ment for Maruti Vans which are ferrying school children to insure accident insurance benefit to the young students and urged the concerned pa-rents and guardians to give a serious thought over the matter for the sake of their children and wards.

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