Order passed by Delhi govt under SC guidelines; restricts their access up to ISBTs at Kashmere Gate, Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar; DTA had impounded three buses last week
LUDHIANA: Passengers travelling in Punjab Roadways Volvo buses to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi will now be put to inconvenience as the Delhi Transport Authority (DTA) has banned entry of stage-carriage vehicles into the airport for allegedly lacking the required permits.
The DTA passed an order on Monday, saying these buses can ply only up to inter-state bus terminals (ISBTs) in Delhi, including those located at Kashmere Gate, Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar.
From Kashmere Gate, the distance to the airport is 19.4km, from Sarai Kale Khan 18.5km and from Anand Vihar around 30km.
The DTA had impounded three buses of Jalandhar depot of Punjab Roadways last week. The roadways had to pay a fine of ₹5,000 per bus to the DTA to get its buses released. It was stated that as roadways buses do not have specific permits, they will not be allowed to enter the IGI airport.
There are more than 40 luxury buses plying towards Delhi from various roadways depots in the state, including Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr, Muktsar, Ropar and Pathankot.
DELHI GOVT ORDER When contacted, general manager (GM), Punjab Roadways, Jalandhar, Parneet Minhas said, “The order passed by the Delhi government under the Supreme Court guidelines states that stage-carriage buses will be allowed to stop at only three bus stands in Delhi — Kashmere Gate, Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar. Our buses were also picking up the passengers from the airport. Now, the authorities have told us that the airport is not your station (sic), so our buses cannot drop or pick up passengers from there.”
However, he added, “It’s a temporary issue which is expected to be resolved within a few weeks.”
A roadway official, seeking anonymity, said, “The Jalandhar depot was earning ₹75 to ₹80 lakh from its nine buses plying to the IGI Airport and the Ludhiana depot was earning around ₹9 lakh per month from just one Volvo bus.”
Following this, the Ludhiana and Jalandhar depots of Punjab Roadways had even announced to shut down their bus services to the IGI airport.
Confirming the development, GM, Punjab Roadways Ludhiana, Gursewak Rajpal said, “The services were shut down from Monday as some buses of Jalandhar depot were impounded by the Delhi government. I held a meeting with GM Jalandhar regarding the matter on Monday.
On Tuesday, we had a meeting at Chandigarh with state officials. I hope the matter could be solved soon.”
PERMIT CONDITIONS
As per the norms mentioned on the official website of Delhi government, permits shall be subject to conditions laid down in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and rules made thereunder and also subject to the conditions laid down by the state transport authority (STA), Delhi, from time to time.
It also mentioned that a bus shall be used only on the route specified in the permit or as changed from time to time by the STA in consideration of traffic pattern, commuter patterns or other factors considered relevant.
