City buses should operate on non-BRTS routes: NGO

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 12

As many as 60 buses of the city bus service, which are lying off road for the last two years, would be handed over to Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC). An NGO want that these buses should be operated on non-Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) routes in the city. Office-bearers of the Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) demanded that the city buses should be operated in the city. Dr Charanjit Singh Gumtala, founder of the AVM, in a letter written to Captain Amarinder Singh, Mayor Karmajit Singh Rintu and Deputy Commissioner, demanded that the move to handover these buses to PRTC is not justified. The buses were bought for the city and should be run on local routes.

The SAD-BJP government had initiated the city bus project in 2014. Then Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had launched the project at the Mall Mandi bus stand on January 28, 2014. The project was funded by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). As many as 60 buses were introduced in the first phase of the project. In July 2017 the buses stopped operation and parked at the Mall Mandi bus stand.