The municipal corporation (MC) commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal has formed a committee to look into the possibilities of bringing into use the 37 city buses worth 17 crores that have been lying defunct in the depot on Tajpur Road for years.
The committee has been directed to submit a viability report regarding what will be the cost of taking up the repair work and whether the civic body will be able to successfully operate the buses in the city area.
The decision was taken during the meeting of the Board of Directors of Ludhiana City Bus Service Limited held at MC Zone D office on Tuesday.
The buses have been dumped at the site for over eight years now and are lying in a dilapidated condition with many of their parts stolen in the past. They are gathering dust with burst tyres and weed all around. Tall claims had been made by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress to revive the buses during their respective tenures in the MC house, but nothing was done at the ground level.
The project was started in February 2011 with the target of introducing 200 buses under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), but the authorities have not been able to properly run the 120 buses which were purchased then. Out of the 120 buses, only 83 were transferred to the contractor who is currently running the service in the city, and 37 are gathering dust at the depot.
{{/usCountry}}The project was started in February 2011 with the target of introducing 200 buses under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), but the authorities have not been able to properly run the 120 buses which were purchased then. Out of the 120 buses, only 83 were transferred to the contractor who is currently running the service in the city, and 37 are gathering dust at the depot.
{{/usCountry}}The contractor informed that only ten buses are being run in the city owing to the losses incurred by him amid the Covid-19 pandemic.