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After talks with CTU officials, PRTC restores service to Chandigarh
Poll code in force, meeting to resolve issue to be held on June 19
Chandigarh/Mohali, April 24
Pepsu Road Transport Corporation partially restored the bus service to the ISBT-43 here this afternoon. All Chandigarh-bound buses of the roadways had stopped in Mohali since last morning over the issue of revised timetable.
Leaders of the PRTC and PUNBUS Joint Workers Action Committee said talks were held with the officials concerned of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) and it was decided that a meeting would be held on June 19 to resolve the issue as the officers were busy with election duty.
According to officials, the model code of conduct is in place and it is difficult to take any decision during the code period, so a decision will be taken on the matter after the completion of the election process in June. Therefore, normal bus service has been restored for the time being. Buses from Punjab started plying from the Sector 43 bus stand in the afternoon.
Till the meeting is held, the buses will ply according to the old timetable, they added.
The bus service to the Chandigarh bus stands would be fully restored from tomorrow, they added.
Yesterday, CTU buses heading towards Punjab and Himachal Pradesh stopped service in the morning as these were not allowed to enter Mohali.
Meanwhile, passengers were inconvenienced as members of the PRTC and CTU unions sparred over the dispute over timetable agreement and “adda” fee between the two public transport services. While the PRTC barred the entry of local CTU buses in Mohali areas, no Punjab Roadways bus entered the Sector 43 ISBT in the morning hours. Buses plied in their respective areas.
Harried passengers had to shell out extra money for hiring autos or private vehicles to reach their destinations in the tricity.
President of Punjab Roadways Employee Union of Ropar Depot Kulwant Singh said, “The timetable agreement stipulates CTU buses to ply 29,000 km in Punjab, but these are at present covering around 45,000 km, thus are causing loss to Punjab Roadways.”
However, CTU employees said the bus service was operational in routine but they were stopped from entering Mohali. They had to take a U-turn near the YPS chowk and pick up passengers from there.
On the Mohali side, Punjab Roadways buses picked up passengers from Phase 7 for the Mohali bus stand.
PRTC buses dropped the Chandigarh-bound passengers coming from Patiala, Rajpura and Dera Bassi at Zirakpur.
Rajwant Kaur, a Rajpura resident, on her way to the GMCH-32, said, “The bus conductor asked us to get off near the Zirakpur bus stand and board a local bus or auto to reach Chandigarh. Besides walking on foot for a distance, all passengers had to pay extra money to hire auto-rickshaws and taxis to reach their destinations. It took us almost an extra hour and we got late also.”
CTU buses not adhering to timetable: Union
President of Punjab Roadways Employees Union of Ropar Depot Kulwant Singh said, “The timetable agreement stipulates CTU buses to ply 29,000 km in Punjab, but these are at present covering around 45,000 km, thus causing loss to Punjab Roadways.”
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