Mini-bus plan to link city with rural areas moves at snail's pace

Amritsar, September 17

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Three weeks after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann directed the Transport Department to press into service mini-buses to link the rural areas with cities, especially those that have religious centres, the authorities here are moving at a snail’s pace on the project.

On August 25, Mann had held a special meeting with officials of the Transport Department and announced by tweeting, “Had a meeting with officials of the Transport Department today and discussed resuming bus service connecting villages to cities…We want that the facility of the government mini-buses should be given to villagers so that they face less commuting hassles. Also considered running special buses for religious places.”

Harjit Singh of Jagdev Kalan village said all mini-buses in his area and even in the entire district were being run by private transporters. Plying of state-run buses would end the monopoly of private transporters. He said they expected the service to resume soon after the announcement but it appeared that the authorities would take a couple of more weeks to start plying mini-buses in villages.

Madhu Pushp, General Manager, Amritsar II, said the Transport Department would chalk out a plan to resume mini-bus service to connect the holy city with the rural areas. He added that Amritsar was in the priority list of the department and the objective was to provide a convenient mode of transportation to the rural folks.