370 Haryana buses requisitioned for rally, Transport Department incurs losses in lakhs

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad/Palwal, November 29

The bill for the use of hundreds of Haryana Roadways (HR) buses to ferry participants to a public rally held in Palwal recently is yet to be generated. The decision to arrange such a large number of buses for ferrying the rally-goers reportedly cost the Transport Department several lakhs rupees as regular transit services were affected. The authorities are yet to ascertain the expenses incurred in the process.

As many as 370 buses from eight district depots — including Faridabad, Palwal, Delhi, Rohtak, Sonepat, Narnaul, Jhajjar and Rewari — were requisitioned for the purpose. It resulted in the suspension or cancellation of several bus operations.

Condemning the use of HR buses for the function, Ramashray Prasad Singh, the general secretary of the Haryana Roadways Workers’ Union, said: “Thousands of passengers across the region had to face inconvenience.” Alleging misuse of the official machinery, Subhash Lamba, the spokesperson for the Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS, Haryana), noted that the move had caused a loss to the Transport Department.

Lekh Raj, the Haryana Roadways GM here, said that around 123 buses had been requisitioned from Faridabad, Rohtak and Sonepat depots for the event. He said a bill in this regard will be submitted to the authorities concerned soon. The process for the recovery of the bill for the use of 50 buses has been initiated, said Navneet, Haryana Roadways GM (Palwal).