Bringing Jharkhand rural areas closer with fleet of 250 buses

Soren said. “Our priority is to strengthen the road transport and traffic system in rural and remote tribal areas of the state. The aim is to connect rural areas with block, sub-division and district headquarters. So that people living in remote villages can get access to an accessible transportation system.”

The scheme will give a boost to people living in remote locations as more than 70 percent of the current estimated population of four crore in Jharkhand reside in the rural areas, the source said. “After the cabinet clears it, the process will begin to invite applications to run the buses and then work permits will be issued. It may or may not happen before the state elections due November-December, 2024,” he added.

The transport department officials, also present in the meeting, said that the routes will be determined keeping in mind public places like hospital, school, college, weekly market, local market and railway station locations. Soren said that a mobile-based application will also be launched so that the villagers will get the location of the buses regularly and “villagers won’t have to wait for buses due to lack of information”.

Under this scheme, bus operators on prescribed routes will be given subsidies on vehicle purchase but that its implementation process may take a long time, said the source.