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Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal flag off Volvo service from Punjab to IGI
Seven Volvo buses will be plying from Jalandhar bus stand to Delhi airport daily and similar services will also be available from Amritsar, Pathankot, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Patiala, and Chandigarh, said the Punjab CM.
Punjab chief minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal flagged off a Volvo bus service from Punjab to Indira Gandhi International Airport, on Wednesday.
Flagging off the bus service from Jalandhar after paying floral tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Mann said, “Punjab government has fulfilled its promise by ending the monopoly of private transporters and introducing cheap luxury travel to IGI airport at a meagre cost of ₹1,170.”
Seven Volvo buses will be plying from Jalandhar bus stand to Delhi airport daily and similar services will also be available from Amritsar, Pathankot, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Patiala, and Chandigarh, said the Punjab CM.
He said that tickets can be booked online three months before travel and booking through counters at the bus stand can be done six months ahead of the journey.
Mann said that with this service, the transport mafia operating in the state will also become a thing of the past.
Will make Punjab gangster-free: Kejriwal
Launching a fierce attack on opposition leaders of Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accused successive governments of patronising the gangsters during their regime. Kejriwal vowed to make Punjab a gangster-free land and said that notorious criminals will not be spared at any cost in the state. “Gangsters were born in previous governments as nefarious leaders patronised these dreadful criminals. But after the formation of the AAP government in Punjab, the gangsters’ run is on cessation,” Kejriwal alleged. The Delhi CM said that no one can protect gangsters and anti-national elements in the state as the AAP government led by Mann will give exemplary punishment to them.
“The AAP has a zero-tolerance policy against corruption and wrongdoers,” he said. Terming the Punjab government led by Mann a “rare example of an honest government”, Kejriwal said AAP had put its own minister behind bars on charges of graft. He further said AAP government had waged a war against the transfer and transport mafia so that people are not harassed for work.
Kejriwal also said the AAP government had removed illegal possession from 5,500 acres of panchayati land. He also announced that the services of over 26,000 contractual employees will be regularised as the Punjab government is set to enact a law in the ensuing assembly session.
Punjab transport minister Laljeet Singh Bhullar termed the day historic and said the efforts of the chief ministers of Punjab and Delhi to start this service would facilitate lakhs of NRIs of Punjab.
Delhi transport minister Kailash Gehlot said Volvo buses of Punjab Roadways, Punbus, and PRTC would arrive directly at the airport terminals. Cabinet ministers Lal Chand Kataaruchak, Dr Baljeet Kaur, Harbhajan Singh ETO, Harjot Bains, and Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal along with several MLAs were also present on the occasion.
