Bharat Bandh: Buses halted in Ludhiana, passengers bear brunt

Harshraj Singh

Ludhiana, February 16

Amid the Bharat Bandh call given by the farmers’ unions, the government and private bus services were badly hit today and many passengers found themselves stranded at the Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Inter-state Bus Terminal of Ludhiana.

2K buses off the road

There are around 2,600 big private buses and approximately 4,000 private mini-buses that were not operating on the roads as the staff had extended support to the Bharat Bandh. The bus service will resume on Saturday as usual. — Jasbinder Grewal, general sec, Small Scale Bus Operators’ (Welfare) Association

Notably, different government and private bus unions had extended support to the Bharat Bandh, resulting in thousands of buses not plying on the roads throughout the state today.

Due to the bandh, bus services remained suspended on the roads in Ludhiana district, causing significant inconvenience to passengers.

Kalak Bahadur, who belongs to Nepal, said he had come with his family and needed to go to Pathankot, but no bus was available from Ludhiana. “When I inquired yesterday, I was told that buses will be plying on the roads tomorrow. I don’t know what I should do now,” he added.

Munna, a city resident, said he had to go to Ambala, but he has not found any bus so far due to the Bharat Bandh call. A youngster said that he had to visit Sangrur urgently this morning to join his job but did not find any bus. A number of passengers were forced to return home due to unavailability of bus service.

The members of different unions, including the Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS, and PRTC Contractual Employees Union, as well as Small Scale Bus Operators’ (Welfare) Association and others, had supported the bandh call.

According to the information provided by different unions, around 9,000 buses were off the roads today. Shamsher Singh of PRTC Contractual Employees Union said around 3,000 government-run buses did not ply on the roads today. Jasbinder Singh Grewal, general secretary of Small Scale Bus Operators’ (Welfare) Association, said there are around 2,600 big private buses and approximately 4,000 private mini-buses that were not operating on the roads as they had extended support to the Bharat Bandh. The bus service will resume on Saturday as usual.