Punjab Govt buses to Delhi's IGI Airport from June 15: Bhagwant Mann

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 10

In a major step to break the monopoly of private bus operators, including the companies owned by a prominent political family, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today announced that the government would be starting its buses from different locations in the state to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi from June 15.

Passengers can now book their tickets online by looking at the best bus for their onward flight journey.

In the beginning, 20 Volvo buses will be used for plying passengers to and from the IGI Airport and the number will be enhanced slowly. Of these, at least four will ply to and from Chandigarh.

For the past four years, buses from the state to the IGI Airport were being plied only by private operators, mostly by companies owned by a political family in the state. The AAP had promised to break this monopoly in the run-up to the state Assembly elections.

The Chief Minister also announced that the tariff to be charged by the PRTC, PUNBUS and PEPSU buses would be less than half of what the private operators were charging. “The tariff will be less than half and the facilities to commuters will be much more. We are committed to breaking all mafias that flourished in the state before the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was formed. Recently, we even brought an excise policy that will lead to the state earning a 40% additional revenue over last year,” he added.

Meanwhile, sources say the buses will ply between the IGI Airport and eight cities of Amritsar, Patha-nkot, Jalandhar, Ludhiana Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Patiala, besides Chandigarh. It is learnt that the fare to be charged will be in the range of Rs 830-Rs 1,390 as compared to Rs 2,500 charged by the private operators.

A designate bus stop, within the area under Delhi International Airport Limited, is being allotted for the buses to pick up or drop passengers, officials in the Transport Department told The Tribune.

From there, the airport shuttle will be picking up/dropping passengers. “We are also in talks to get a designate stop at the Terminal 3 of the airport,” said an official, adding that as passenger flow on the state-run buses increases, they were looking at floating tenders to buy more Volvo buses. So far, the state-owned transport companies have a fleet of just 50 Volvo buses.

Last year, in the run up to the state Assembly polls, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had announced to end the transport mafia, if voted to power. He had then announced to set up a commission of 10 to 15 members for the transport sector in Punjab comprising representatives of the state’s transporter unions. This commission, he had said, will formulate the new transport policy.

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