Bus to Lahore leaves on historic journey

It will wait there till Saturday for its first celebrity passenger, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. And this will mark the beginning of the Delhi-Lahore four-days-a-week bus service: the Golden Jubilee Service of the DTC. On Saturday, the bus will go up to Wagah from where Vajpayee will travel by a helicopter.

Delhi Transport Corporation DTC officials proudly displayed the bus before Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the Old Secretariat today before it left for Amritsar. 8220;It is a historic occasion, a big step towards improving Indo-Pak relations,8221; said Dikshit hiding the disappointment of several Congressmen and Delhi government officials who were hoping to accompany the PM in a second bus.

Her colleague and Delhi Transport Minister Parvez Hashmi was conspicuous by his absence. And DTC Chairman G.S. Cheema tried hard to offer an alibi. He said: 8220;The Ministry of External of Affairs and the PMO are handling this trip. They said one bus would be enough8221;.

Hashmi, who had planned to join the inaugural trip, later said there was no point in going without regular passengers.

And so, without Hashmi, two police vans escorted the bus out of the Old Secretariat compound in the afternoon. Driver Ajeet Singh, in a cobalt-blue uniform and matching peak cap, sat behind the wheels of the bus. 8220;We are happy to have the Prime Minister as our passenger,8221; said Singh. His partner Hasan Zaidi, an inter-state driver for Delhi-Amritsar buses, said: 8220;I am no novice to this route8221;.

Both the drivers have been handpicked. They were at the wheels on the dry run8217; last month. And they they will take turns to drive the bus during its 11-hour trip across 850 km of Indian territory and 100 km of Pakistani territory before reaching Lahore. On the first trip, they will drive Vajpayee for the 37-km stretch between Amritsar and Wagah border.

Besides the drivers, a liaison officer and two escorts will be the permanent members of the staff in the bus. On Saturday, however, senior DTC officials will also be present to welcome the Prime Minsiter and his entourage.

The bus has been built by the Azad Group, a branch of the Jaico Automobile Engineering Company based in Bangalore. Says N.R.Sharma, production manager of the company who supervised the designing: 8220;We were given an Ashok Leyland chassis. Everything else has been built by us8221;.

He added: 8220;But its no big deal. We have built similar buses for several countries. We have built only two for the DTC so far. Each costs around Rs 20 lakh8221;.

The DTC chairman, however, says there is a great deal for the 37 passengers who can travel on the bus between Delhi and Lahore if they shell out Rs 800 per head.

8220;There is an air-conditioning system, a heating system, two-channel music with individual earphones, a television, satellite telephone and air suspension which will make the ride very comfortable,8221; said Cheema. 8220;Anyone with a valid visa and passport will be allowed to travel. The bus will stop at three places and we will provide the refreshments.