Passengers harassed as 76 buses from roadways depot in Sirsa diverted to Panipat for PM’s rally

Passengers at the Sirsa bus stand were harassed lot due to shortage of buses today. Seventy-six buses from the Haryana Roadways depot in Sirsa were sent to Panipat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally.

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This caused chaos at the Sirsa bus stand, with passengers wandering from one place to another in search of buses. They had to board buses going to other districts to reach their destinations.

Over 95 bus trips on the local and long-distance routes were missed throughout the day. The situation worsened by noon when the crowd of passengers swelled at the bus stand. Long-distance routes, including Delhi, Chandigarh and Gurugram, were severely impacted. Only a few buses were plying in the morning. Many passengers had to wait for hours at the bus stand, while some were forced to take buses from different depots or board private vehicles to reach their destinations.

The Sirsa depot operates buses on 135 routes, but half of them were not available on Monday, leaving passengers stranded. Passengers were frustrated as many long-route counters remained vacant throughout the day.

Ganesh Kumar, a resident of Sirsa, said he had to go to Delhi, but took a bus for Hisar first as no direct buses were available for the national capital. “It took more time for me to reach Delhi, besides causing a lot of inconvenience,” he said.

Rohit, another commuter, who was also heading to Delhi with his family, was informed that the bus would arrive in two hours. “It would have been much easier for us to travel if a direct bus for Delhi was available,” he said.

Sudhir Kumar, traffic manager, Sirsa bus depot, said due to Panipat rally, some routes and schedules were affected. However, once buses return from the rally, services on all routes would resume, he said.