Pathankot. The free bus travel scheme for women started by the Punjab government now seems to be in trouble. Under this scheme, Punjab Roadways has outstanding of more than Rs 1200 crore. Also, diesel is not available to run the buses.
There was a traffic jam on Friday due to running out of diesel at Pathankot Roadways depot, severely affecting bus services on various routes like Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur. Due to this, the passengers, especially women and girl students, had to face a lot of trouble. A crowd of passengers gathered at Pathankot bus stand. Due to non-operation of roadways buses, many people had to resort to private buses. Girl students and women had to travel by paying fare, due to which questions were raised on the government’s free travel scheme.
Punjab Roadways Panbus Contract Workers Union President Joginder Pal Singh Lovely made a scathing attack on the government. He said that before coming to power, the government had made big promises, but now the roadways depot is not even getting the budget for diesel. Due to shortage of diesel, buses are standing at Pathankot depot and the buses that ran on some routes were run on yesterday’s leftover diesel. The problem of overloading was also seen in these buses.
Joginder Pal said that the government is claiming free bus service, but has failed to release the necessary budget for it. He alleged that the government is retaining the kilometer scheme to benefit corporate houses, the tender for which will be re-opened on October 31. The union has warned of opposing this tender.
He says that this scheme is proving to be a loss-making deal for roadways.
Passengers also expressed their displeasure with the government. He says that free travel was promised, but the buses are not running. We are forced to pay fare and travel in private buses.
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