Punjab is the first state in the country to introduce the air conditioned travel facilities to the common man at a nominal extra fare of just ten per cent, claims state transport minister Ajit Singh Kohar. Talking to UNI here last evening, he said now the local city bus service had already been started in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala to facilitate the local commuters.

He said that 1074 new ordinary buses and 153 air conditioned buses had been added into the fleet of Punjab Roadways (PR) and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) last year. In addition to these, new ordinary and air conditioned buses would be added to the PR fleet very shortly, he added. Kohar claimed that chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had already given green signal for the purpose.

The state government, he said, was determined to bring good governance in the PR and it was for the first time that the PR was making profits.

The state government had already suspended two district transport officers on corruption charges, he said and added that the government was determined to make PR corruption free public undertaking.