Farmers Movement Archive

Chandigarh administration to resume inter-state bus service from Sept 16

Chandigarh, September 4The Chandigarh administration has decided to resume inter-state bus service from September 16.The administration had suspended the interstate bus operation on March 23 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) had briefly resumed the inter-state bus services to neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab from June 10, but those were suspended immediately after a few days over a sudden increase in the coronavirus cases.As per the new guidelines issued by the Central Government, the UT administration has decided to resume the inter-state bus service of the CTU buses and other State Transport Undertakings (STUs) with effect from September 16.The administration has also allowed the HVAC/AC buses to operate with all COVID-19 guidelines issued by the government from time to time. The buses have to maintain the standard operating procedure (SoP) as preventative measures. The CTU has a total strength is 514 buses, of which 361 run on local or suburban routes and 153 run on the inter-state routes covering Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.Before the lockdown, the CTU buses used to travel nearly 1.20 lakh km per day and approximately two lakh commuters used to commute daily in the CTU buses.Sabzi Mandi to be shifted back to Sector-26 before September 15The UT Administration has also decided to shift back the fruit and vegetable market from ISBT-17 to Sector 26.Due to the spread of COVID-19, the Sabzi Mandi was shifted from Sector-26 to ISBT-17.“Now, since the inter-state operation of CTU buses and other State Transport Undertakings would be started from September 16, therefore, the Sabzi Mandi has to be shifted from ISBT-17 to Sector-26 well before September 15,” states an official statement.An office-bearer of the Grain Market Association, Sector 26, said that it was an unnecessary exercise carried out by the administration when they have to be shifted back to Sector 26.

The Tribune

2020-09-04