E-Paper
Himachal Pradesh resumes bus services to Delhi
Hopes to ride out of losses after Covid-19 pandemic led to suspension of services for eight months
Eight months after it suspended its services due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) on Wednesday resumed the bus service to the national capital, Delhi.
Inter-state travellers were relieved after the first bus for the day left at 5am. In all, 25 buses will ply on different routes from the state to Delhi daily.
“The resumption of bus services to the national capital has come as a relief for passengers, particularly in the festive season,” said Rama Nand Thakur, in-charge of HRTC bus services at the Inter State Bus Terminus in Shimla.
Stakeholders in the tourism sector have been demanding the resumption of deluxe coaches to Delhi, including Volvo services, to facilitate tourists with rail and air traffic hit by the pandemic. However, the government is yet to resume luxury bus services.
SAFETY GUIDELINES TO BE FOLLOWED STRICTLY
HRTC drivers have expressed apprehension about the rise in Covid-19 cases due to the visits to Delhi. “Though the government has issued the standard operating procedures for bus travel, we fear a rise in cases due to the Delhi trips,” says Hriday Sharma, who drove an HRTC bus to Delhi after eight months.
The state government resumed bus services on 25 inter-state routes in the first phase on October 15. These include the bus service to Chandigarh, Pathankot, Baddi, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Ambala, and Haridwar.
DECISION IN VIEW OF FESTIVE SEASON
State transport minister Bikram Singh said that the government has taken this decision in view of the festive season. He said people had been demanding the resumption of inter-state bus services.
Himachal Pradesh runs buses on 728 routes across the region, including Jammu, Ladakh, Kashmir, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan.
The Himachal Pradesh Road Corporation, which has a fleet of 3,719 buses, is already running in loss due to the suspension of services. It earns Rs 54 lakh a day from its bus services and is already reeling under a loss of Rs 1,300 crore. Last year alone, it bore a loss of Rs 154 crore.
