Pvt bus services to MP stop following crackdown

Private bus operators flout this rule with impunity and accommodate passengers at various centres enroute. This practice was overlooked by the State Government over the years, as a result of which the private bus business flourished and started eating into the business of State Transport Corporation. Passengers began to prefer private luxury buses and as a result, the state transport business started running into losses.

The MP Government has now, however, decided to cut the private bus operators to size and has put a total clamp down on private buses who are found violating the contract transport terms.

With the MP RTO department initiating strict action against bus operators including seizure of the buses, the operators have now decided to stop the services. They have suddenly cancelled their operations which connected Nagpur to cities in MP like Raipur, Jabalpur, Chhindwara, Seoni, Indore, Bhopal and Bilaspur. Nearly 20 buses of the Nagpur operators have been seized in Raipur route alone.

As a result of the MP Government’s action, passengers have immensely inconvenienced. Thousands of passengers who travel daily to Indore, Raipur, Jabalpur, Sagar, Rewa, Katni and Bhopal by the luxury buses, have now to depend upon state transport buses and Railways. Following the cancellation of the private buses, the bus connections of the State Transport Corporation and the trains have suddenly witnessed a mad rush.

This has not solved problem of the passengers who travel to towns like Indore and Jabalpur, where there are no convenient rail connection from Nagpur. With the MP Government unlikely to soften its stance against private bus operators, and with no alternative connections available, passengers will have to bear the inconvenience for the days coming ahead.

Meanwhile, private bus operators have said they find it difficult to understand the sudden action by the Government. “We have been plying on MP roads on all India permit for the last nine years but suddenly the Government wants us to carry tourists only, who are hardly seen in the state,” said Rajesh Jain, a travel operator.

Jain said, the bus operators have also been put to trouble as the MP Government has doubled the tax on vehicles registered outside the state. “The Government should have at least given enough time to the bus operators before initiating action so that they would have found other routes to operate on,” he added.