Buses overcrowded on 19 routes in Chopal

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 26

Passengers face an acute shortage of buses on 19 routes in Chopal, the accident-prone area in the district, as HRTC buses continue to carry 60-70 passengers in 37-seater buses.

Chopal and Nerwa need eight extra buses on local routes. The SDM, Chopal, Ajit Bhardwaj has submitted a report on overcrowding to the DC, Shimla, seeking more buses.

The passengers said they faced difficulties in the overcrowded buses plying on the narrow roads within the subdivision. They also got stranded many times on roads due to mechanical failures.

Not only this, a 37-seater Chopal-Haridwar bus that came from Shimla today carried 62 passengers. “We could not ask the passengers to de-board the bus,” the conductor said.

The HRTC had stopped plying the Shimla-Shantha-Dewat bus abruptly that has resulted in overcrowding. The bus should be resumed immediately.

There were no crash barriers on most roads which were prone to accidents. An HRTC bus skidded on the Khadar road last year that killed two locals and injured seven others. More than 15 persons had died on black spots on the Deha-Chopal, Nerwa-Chopal, Chopal-Sarahan and Nerwa-Deya roads in this area this year, revealed police sources.

“We have no option other than running the buses with the tyres which have outlived their life. There are no tyres and spare parts available in the workshop in Nerwa,” said the HRTC staff.

The HRTC office submitted a list of 19 routes which remained overcrowded due to shortage of buses to the SDM, Chopal.

It operates buses on 42 local routes in the sub-division and 19 buses to and from Shimla and Chopal. There are only two private buses between Chopal and Shimla and most of the buses are overcrowded.