Haryana Transport Minister Anil Vij refuses to be ‘taken for ride’, suspends staffer on Day 1 for unclean loo

Known for surprise checks and impromptu stopovers to gather first-hand information on his departments’ working, Haryana Energy, Labour and Transport Minister Anil Vij got on with his job on the first day after being allocated the portfolios. He suspended an official, directed the Transport Commissioner to constitute a committee to fix responsibility for ill-maintained bus stands and travelled till Samalkha in a bus while his official vehicle followed. In Karnal, he ordered registration of an FIR for irregularities at the bus stand.

Beginning his day in Ambala Cantonment, he inaugurated a foot overbridge and later inspected the bus stand where he pulled up officials for mismanagement and encroachment by shopkeepers.

Finding several shortcomings, including ill-maintained toilets and lack of sanitation around the drinking water area, he issued instructions to suspend station supervisor Ajit Singh, asking him to either stay in the ill-maintained toilet for five hours or face suspension. He reprimanded Roadways, Ambala, GM Ashwani Dogra for mismanagement. Even during his previous two terms as a Cabinet minister, Vij used to carry out surprise visits across the state, pull up officials for negligence and also suspend them for it.

While inspecting the bus stand, he visited various offices, inquiry counter and directed that the arrival and departure times of buses at the counter be digitised.

During the inspection, he found that food stalls were encroaching upon more space than was allocated to them. Miffed over it, he pulled up officials as well as shopkeepers.

Meanwhile, some girl students and other passengers met the minister and raised the issue of lack of buses. Assuring them of resolving their issues, he said, “I have just been allotted this department and I am here to find out about your problems. Let me get all details, and I will take the required measures.”

To know about the problems people were facing in roadways buses, he travelled in one.

“The government has given the transport portfolio to me so I came here to see the situation. There is a lack of space for passengers to sit because shopkeepers and food stall owners have encroached upon areas near their outlets. Such thing can’t be done without the involvement of officials.”

“I have also asked the Food and Drug Administration Department to check the quality of eatables available at the bus stand. The toilet was in a poor condition. I have suspended the bus stand’s supervisor,” he added.

He said the irregularities at the Ambala Cantonment bus stand would be investigated by a senior officer and the tenders for shops, parking space and other related matters would also be reviewed. He directed the Transport Commissioner to constitute a committee to fix the responsibility.

Later, he visited the Karnal bus stand, where he found multiple violations, including encroachment of public space and irregularities in the functioning of the canteen and other facilities. He directed strict action against the employees concerned, including registration of an FIR.

Reprimanding officials for negligence, he said, “This is public money and the public demands accountability. Irregularities will not be tolerated.”