Ludhiana MC planning to sell city buses gathering dust for past 8 years
A Ludhiana MC official, requesting anonymity, said the committee has submitted a report, which suggested that it is not feasible to run buses now, as the civic body will have to spend crores to repair them as many parts have been stolen while others are rusty
The Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) is planning to sell off the 37 big city buses which have been gathering dust at the depot on Tajpur Road for almost eight years.
As per information, the buses were initially purchased at a cost of around ₹17 crore and may have to be sold off as scrap now.
In July, MC commissioner Shena Aggarwal had formed a committee to check whether these buses can be made operational or if they have to be sold. Apart from MC, officials of Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) and Regional Transport Authority (RTA) were also included in the committee.
An MC official, requesting anonymity, said the committee has submitted a report, which suggested that it is not feasible to run buses now, as the civic body will have to spend crores to repair them as many parts have been stolen while others are rusty. Even if the buses are repaired, it will be difficult to run the big buses in the city due to congestion, the report added.
The proposal to sell the buses has been sent to the local bodies department and MC has already given it a green signal.
MC commissioner Shena Aggarwal said the final decision on the proposal to sell the buses will be taken during the next meeting of the board of directors of Ludhiana City Bus Service Limited.
MC struggling to run city bus service to its full capacity
MC has for long been struggling to run the city bus service at full capacity, even as it is the only public transport facility available in the state’s industrial hub.
The city bus service routinely becomes a hot topic of discussion before every election and leaders make tall claims about running the service at its full capacity, which has been a long-pending demand of city residents.
Under the city bus project launched in 2011, 120 buses were purchased. Only 83 buses were handed over to the contractor, of which only half of them are currently running on city roads.