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

Amritsar, September 17

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.