No night shelter for stuck passengers

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, November 15

Stranded persons are compelled to sleep on benches in ticket booths and walkway at the bus stand in Jhajjar city as ‘raen basera’ (night shelter) is yet to start here.

Men and women, along with their minor children, were found spending night in cold conditions when ‘The Tribune’ team visited the bus stand on Friday. Majority of people belonged to other states, who were stranded due to non-availability of bus services at night to reach their destination.

Nem Singh, a resident of Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh), said they arrived at the bus stand from their hometown at 8 pm to catch a bus for Charkhi Dadri. No bus was available for that place at night. They were forced to sleep in a ticket booth to protect themselves from cold, as there was no night shelter available at the bus stand for stranded persons, he said.

“My friend and I got late in reaching the Jhajjar bus stand. Hence, we could not get a bus to reach our destination in Bhiwani. Since the next bus was to leave for Bhiwani the next morning, we had no other option but to sleep at the bus stand. We are feeling cold as the temperature is low,” said Inderjit Yadav of Bihar.

Narender of Bulandshahr and Rajnish of Jhansi also faced a similar situation and were compelled to spend a sleepless night. Sources said a night shelter was set up at the bus stand in winter last year, but it was yet to start this time. Shyam Lal Punia, Deputy Commissioner, said the process was underway to set up night shelters at various places in Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh cities,.