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Tribune News Service
Bathinda, August 11
The future of city buses hangs in the balance as the Pepsu Roadway Transport Corporation (PRTC), after withdrawing 10 buses from operation last month, has now written a letter to the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, asking it to take back its buses as they are not able to run these owing to losses they are facing every month.
It is learnt that PRTC is facing a loss of Rs 7 lakh per month, due to which it has showed its inability to run these buses.
Even last year, PRTC had raised this issue and had handed over the buses to the PRTC owning to heavy losses incurred by it. At that time, the MC was also adamant that they would run these buses on their own, even the MC floated a tender to give these buses in private hands, but no private transporter showed any interest in running these buses.
Owing to the elections, the MC again gave these buses to PRTC to run it on city roads and on the instructions of the state government PRTC had to start plying these buses on loss, but now again after the formation of new government, PRTC Bathinda office again halted these buses and started plying mini buses on outer routes.
PRTC Bathinda bus stand GM Surinder Singh said, “We have written a letter to the MC, in which he asked them to take back their all city buses as PRTC is running into losses.”
MCB Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said if PRTC will not run the buses, then the MC will run the buses on its own. The facility of city bus service would be provided to residents at any cost.
It is pertinent to mention that the city bus project was kicked off in 2012 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Ten (52-seater) low-floor buses were introduced and the project was handed over to the PRTC for its operation and maintenance. Former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal inaugurated the project with much fanfare. Later, ahead of election last year a fleet of mini buses was flagged off. These buses were to be run in trans-railway line areas.
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