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Swearing-in ceremony: 51 buses at AAP’s disposal, passengers a harried lot
With fewer buses at their disposal due to the chief minister’s swearing-in ceremony, passengers had to wait for a long time to board buses plying on their respective routes.
With at least 50 buses of the Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) deployed to ferry Aam Aadmi Party supporters to chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s swearing-in ceremony at Khatkar Kalan (Nawanshahr), commuters at the city bus stand were a harried lot on Wednesday.
As many as 265 roadways and PRTC buses have been earmarked for Ludhiana, of which 51 (31 Roadways and 20 of PRTC buses) were pressed into AAP’s service. With fewer buses a their disposal, passengers at the Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar Inter State Bus Terminal had to wait for a long time to board buses plying on their respective routes. Commuters headed towards Chandigarh, Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Patiala, and Bathinda had a particularly tough time availing bus service.
Roadways staffers said they had been directed by the administration to put the buses at AAP’s disposal.The roadways will be paid a fixed rent of ₹4,900 per bus and additional fuel charges.
An official, requesting anonymity, said, “Left with a smaller fleet, we had to reduce the frequency of buses on different routes. If five buses ordinarily ply on a particular route, then only three buses ran on the route on Wednesday. We did not disturb the inter-state bus schedule. However, most buses taking inter-district routes were sent to Khatkar Kalan.”
Women passengers worst hit
A passenger, Parveen, who had come from Jalalabad (Fazilka) and was en route to Anandpur Sahib along with his wife and mother, said, “We are on our way to participate in ‘Holla Mohalla’ celebrations, but due to unavailability of public transport, we will have to take a private bus. This will cost me an additional ₹2,000, as my wife and mother are eligible to travel free in government buses.”
Jasbir Kaur, who was waiting for a public bus to Amritsar, said, “The party had claimed that it would put an end to the ‘misuse’ of public machinery, but is doing the same thing. What is the point of allowing free travel to women in public buses, if they are not available? Political parties should mend their ways.”
No misuse of public machinery: AAP
However, AAP MLAs and supporters asserted that the daily rent of the buses had been submitted with the transport department, and therefore there was no misuse of buses.
AAP MLA (Ludhiana West) Gurpreet Gogi said, “It was a historic event as the people had voted for change and Bhagwant Mann was sworn-in as the Punjab chief minister. We submitted the rent of buses with the department, before using the buses.”
Attempts to reach roadways (Ludhiana) general manager Rajeev Dutta were unsuccessful, as he was unavailable for comments. Station supervisor Kuljit Singh Sodhi said the buses were sent to Khatkar Kalan only after receiving orders from seniors. However, the available buses were rescheduled, so that the public was not inconvenienced.
Around 130 buses of roadways and 135 buses of PRTC ply in Ludhiana.
