DTOs told to arrange over 3,000 buses to ferry people to Amritsar

For the past three days,the officers are busy making arrangements for vehicles to ferry people to the venue.

They are constantly in touch with owners of big and mini-buses,and have also commandeered school and college buses for today and tomorrow. However,Ludhiana DTO Chander Gaind refused to comment on this issue.

Confirming the development,Jaswinder Singh Grewal,president of the Ludhiana Mini-Bus Operators’ Union,said,“Yesterday,transport authorities issued verbal instructions,which we are following.”

A transporter said,“We have been promised fuel price,which comes to approximately Rs 2,000,which is too less,as we will lose out on two days’ business. As per the notification of the State Transport Department,a transporter is paid Rs 2,500,besides diesel and lubricant charges,per mini-bus per day for deployment on government duty. The amount is 3,750 for a big bus.”

These uncalled-for directions have not only caused inconvenience to the transporters,but also to the commuters. There are about 2,000 mini-buses in Punjab which cater to the passengers of rural areas.

Raman Jalali,a commuter from Hans Kalan,near Jagraon,said,“Today,I had to walk about 6 kms to catch a bus.”

Some educational institutes have also been asked to send in their buses.

An official of an institute said,“We had to send our four buses for the ceremony,and told our students to make their own arrangements for two days.”

Over 200 vehicles,including big and mini-buses and some taxies,from Jalandhar and surrounding areas have been forcibly requisitioned by the district government officials.

It was learnt that the CID has been asked to keep a record of how many buses an Akali leader takes for the oath-taking ceremony,said sources.

However,no bus of the Orbit Company of Punjab CM

Parkash Singh Badal is being taken for the function.

A senior administrative officer said that after arranging the buses,they had handed them over to the Akali MLAs.

A transporter and an Akali leader said the Orbit buses would make a killing,as other vehicles would remain off roads.

Repeated attempts to contact Jalandhar DTO remained futile,as she didn’t pick up her phone.

Elevation will help Congress,says Umrao Singh
Veteran Congress leader and former MP Umrao Singh pooh-poohed the elevation for Sukhbir Singh to the post of Deputy Chief Minister,saying that he was already dominating the administrative set-up of Punjab and was also quite powerful in the SAD. Umrao said after holding the new post,he would not be able to concentrate on party affairs and this would indirectly help the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections. “This elevation may affect BJP’s prospectus in the urban areas,and ultimately again benefit the Congress,” he added.