Amritsar: Bumpy ride for BRTS as firm operating buses calls it quits

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, July 4

The Metro bus being run under the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) since December 2016 is again off road since Monday morning. One of the private firms, Swarna Satnam Transport Services, which used to operate and repair buses and take care of the bus terminal at Verka bypass, has stopped functioning. As per the information, the government had imposed a penalty of around Rs 2 crore on the private firm for allegedly getting more fuel than the actual consumption. Instead of paying penalty, the company ended its contract.

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It is a good project for the city but the government and officials have ruined it. The BRTS can earn crores from outdoor and indoor advertisements as it has a 32-km long corridor with Metro stations. The government does not seem to be willing to operate the public transport. Naresh Johar, a regular passenger

The government had hired the company for seven years to operate buses and used to pay Rs 22 per kilometre. The company had been working for the last four years with the Punjab Bus Metro Society, a government body to operate the buses. The government fills the fuel tanks of buses and gives one litre of diesel for every 3 km to each operational bus. Initially, there were 92 buses on three major routes from Golden Gate to India Gate, Golden Gate to Verka and India Gate to Verka. As per the information, in the absence of funds, the company was unable to repair the buses and the condition of most buses deteriorated during the last six years. Now, 30 out of 92 buses are lying defunct and only 16 buses are functional. With less number of buses, the company’s income was also getting affected and they were unable to bear the expenses. Leaving three years of contract behind, the company left the service on Monday.

Officials of the Municipal Corporation informed that Swarna Satnam Transport Services didn’t submit the documents about the provident fund (PF) and ESI of employees after December 2022. The MC deducted their 50 per cent of the funds, which also affected the financial condition of the firm.

Though the funding agency for the BRTS is the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company, the Municipal Commissioner of Amritsar is in charge of the BRTS operations. To tackle the situation, MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi asked the Punjab Roadways to operate the buses until a contract with some other company was formalised.

The drivers working with the company were offered jobs on a temporary basis. Today, some of the drivers operated a few buses but most of them were not agreeable to working on the minimum wages offered by the Roadways which is Rs 11,500. The drivers asked to be paid Rs 14,000 which they were getting earlier.

Other companies also facing crisis

There are a total of four private companies hired by Punjab Bus Metro Society to operate the Metro bus. Apart from Swarna Satnam Transport Services, another company AGS also did not agree to work for BRTS in future. The AGS provides technical support to the BRTS. The authorities also imposed a penalty on the company for malfunctioning. ANE Max, another company which operates a call centre for BRTS, is also facing financial hardships as the authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh. Another firm SSMS, which provides ticket collectors and security guards to BRTS, was also unable to pay the penalty of Rs 45 lakh for misplaced ticket tokens.

Journey of BRTS

The first phase of the BRTS project was inaugurated on December 15 in 2016 by then Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal. It was a dream project of the Badals and the government spent Rs 550 crore on it. On January 29, 2019, then Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu inaugurated its second phase. The Metro bus used to witness 80,000 ridership per day. Despite tall claims, the previous Congress and the incumbent AAP government failed to formulate any policy to make the BRTS self-sustainable. Currently, around 37,000 passengers use the service daily. Due to inadequate funding and strike by the employees, the passengers face regular suspension of service. It affects the ridership too.