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Journalism of Courage
Residents have a reason to rejoice now as their long-pending demand of overhauling the public road transport system will soon turn into a reality. The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) has planned a complete revamping of its fleet as all earlier hurdles — finances or delay in approvals — have been overcome.
Apart from replacing the old buses, the CTU also plans to introduce swanky buses of a new design in its fleet. Revising a few of the proposals mooted in the past, the CTU will add five double-decker buses, 15 low-floor buses and 17 mini-AC buses to follow the grid system within different sectors. Also, 46 non-AC buses for inter-city long routes will be made operational within three months.
“Two companies have been shortlisted so far to provide the mini-AC buses. One firm is based in Ambala and the other is in Chandigarh,” said CTU Director P S Shergill.
The CTU also plans to modify certain specifications in the new buses. At present, some of the local buses have elevated seating at the rear, which the passengers find inconvenient. When replaced with the new buses, which have the engine in front, the aisle will be a single platform. Regarding inter-city buses, the number of seats has been reduced to 47 for more leg room.
“Chandigarh will be the second city after Mumbai to have double-decker buses in its public transport system. We have received two technical bids from Mumbai for the five double-decker buses. Tenders for financial bids will be invited once a company is selected under the technical bid,” said Shergill.
CTU workers take out rally
Members of the CTU Workers’ Union took out a rally on Wednesday to announce the elections to be held on November 25 and 26. The candidates include: president Ranjit Singh, vice-president Jang Singh, general secretary Gurpal Singh and cashier Kaka Singh.
Detailing the activities undertaken during the previous tenure, the speakers said the union had been successful in getting long-pending overtime travel allowances to the employees, changing promotion norms and made all efforts to stall the plying of AC buses by private players.
Speakers at the rally included: Ranjit Singh, Devi Dayal Sharma, H S Gambhir, Sant Singh Saini, Raghuvir Singh, Kartar Singh, Dalbar Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Jaswant Singh, Mahinder Singh and Rakesh Kumar.
