Punjab's free bus scheme hits roadblock: Diesel crisis grounds buses, passengers suffer

Pathankot (The Uttam Hindu): The Punjab government's free bus travel scheme for women now appears to be in trouble. Punjab Roadways has accumulated outstanding dues of over ₹1,200 crore under this scheme. Furthermore, diesel is not even available to run the buses.

Bus services on various routes including Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur were severely affected on Friday due to a diesel shortage at the Pathankot roadways depot, causing immense inconvenience to passengers, especially women and girl students.

Crowds of passengers gathered at the Pathankot bus station. Due to the non-operation of roadways buses, many people had to resort to private buses. Students and women had to pay fares to travel, raising questions about the government's free travel scheme.

Joginder Pal Singh Lovely, president of the Punjab Roadways Punbus Contract Workers Union, launched a scathing attack on the government. He said that before coming to power, the government made lofty promises, but now the roadways depot isn't even getting the budget for diesel. Buses are stranded at the Pathankot depot due to a diesel shortage, and the few buses that did run on routes were running on leftover diesel from yesterday. These buses were also found to be overloaded.

Joginder Pal said that the government claims to provide free bus service, but has failed to release the necessary budget. He alleged that the government is retaining the kilometer scheme to benefit corporate houses, the tender for which will be reopened on October 31. The union has threatened to oppose this tender.

They say this scheme is proving to be a loss-making venture for roadways. Passengers have also expressed their displeasure with the government. They say that free travel was promised, but the buses aren't running. They are forced to pay fares and travel on private buses.