Transport department to lay stress on religious tourism in Himachal: Mukesh Agnihotri

Shimla, October 17

The state transport department will lay emphasis on religious tourism, strengthening the existing fleet of buses, modernisation (e-buses among other initiatives), cashless tickets, revenue generation and keeping bus fare unchanged, said Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri while addressing mediapersons here on Tuesday. Agnihotri was speaking after a meeting with state transport officials during which prolonged discussions took place with regard to future course of action as the department recentlycompleted 50 years .

Dues of employees, pensioners to be cleared

There will be a major thrust on redesigning the religious tourism sector (both inter and intra state level) for which more than 100 routes will be identified. Outstanding DA instalments of employees and pensioners would be cleared in one go on Diwali. We have regularised 400 employees and efforts are on to implement OPS (old pension scheme) in letter and spirit.

Mukesh Agnihotri, Deputy CM

Agnihotri added, “No major changes have been made in the transport luggage policy but those who want to use buses as courier service won’t be allowed to do so and they have to pay a fixed fare for the same from now. And these slight alterations in the policy have yielded dividends for the state transport garnering it Rs 1 crore revenue in initial phase itself.”

“We want to improve the service provided to passengers and in the transition phase to modernise state transport. There will be a major thrust on redesigning the religious tourism both inter and intra state level for which more than 100 routes will be identified. Outstanding DA instalments of employees and pensioners would be cleared in one go on Diwali,” said Deputy CM.

Agnihotri said, “We have regularised 400 employees and efforts are on to implement OPS (old pension scheme) in letter and spirit. Apart from that, efforts are on to clear all other pending dues. The recruitment of 300 conductors will be done soon. Emphasis would be on reducing expenditure and generating maximum revenue. But there will be no hike in bus fare. We are also planning to introduce cashless system for ticket buying. Apart from paying cash for tickets, passengers would be able to buy tickets by their debit card and other modes of cashless payment.”

“Many diesel, electric and Volvo buses were introduced recently and the fleet would be strengthened in future with emphasis on increasing the number of Volvo and long-route buses which generate maximum revenue for the corporation. Regarding e-buses, there are private firms which have been showing keen interest in setting up charging stations in the state which is beneficial for us,” added Agnihotri.