1300 Haryana Roadways buses used to ferry people for Dwarka e-way opening

500 government buses were used to ferry people from different parts of Gurugram to the venue in Sector-84 and then drop them back at designated spots

Over 1300 Haryana Roadways buses were used to ferry spectators from across the state for PM Narendra Modi’s event in Gurugram on Monday in which he dedicated the much-awaited Dwarka expressway to the country.

The Haryana stretch of the Dwarka Expressway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in NCR on Monday. (Vipin Kumar/ HT Photo)

Transport department officials said that out of the 1300, 500 buses were arranged from the roadways depots in Gurugram, Jind, Dadri, Bhiwani and Sonipat. Most of these buses were parked in a temporary parking spot prepared near the venue.

According to transport department officials, the 500 government buses were used to ferry people from different parts of Gurugram to the venue in Sector-84 and then drop them back at designated spots after the program ended.

A senior transport department official said that these 500 buses, 100 each from the five depots, had reached the city on Sunday night.

“The rest of the 800 buses had reached from depots in Jhajjar, Palwal and other places. They had directly brought the people to the venue on Monday morning,” the officer said.

“It is being managed by the top authorities of our department. We only had directions to arrange the buses for the event. We don’t know if National Highways Authority of India, state government or any other agency is bearing the expense,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials said that due to the use of buses for the event, several routes were either diverted or the daily numbers of trips were reduced to manage the passenger pressure.

Pardeep Kumar, general manager of the roadway’s depot in Gurugram, said they managed the routes by reducing the count of buses plying on them. Kumar said that the Gurugram depot had a fleet strength of 212 buses of which 100 buses were used for the event and 400 more had reached here from other neighbouring depots. “At least 800 more buses had reached the venue directly from other districts,” he said.