Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The tourism capital of Maharashtra - Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (erstwhile Aurangabad) - has earned a bad name as the young ambassadors of India’s tourism in future were coerced to face hardship in seeing the world heritage Ajanta Caves, due to poor management of shuttle buses, between Ajanta T-Point and the Caves, by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), on Thursday morning.
According to sources, “The students from Mumbai were on an excursion trip to Ajanta Caves. The tourist season is underway and the month of December also witnesses heavy rush of tourists in the district during Christmas vacation. However, due to non-availability of adequate number of buses, the above 67 students were left with no option but to travel in one shuttle bus of seating capacity of 40 persons from T-Point to see the caves."
Who takes lunch at 11 am?
Amod Basole, the guide of the Mumbai students, said,“ We arrived at the bus boarding point at around 10.15 am. Long queue was formed and we waited for more than half an hour. On inquiry, we learnt that four buses were being operated by MSRTC since morning, and out of them two are on road and other two have been parked at the foothills of the caves as their staff had went for lunch. Few foreigners as well also faced inconvenience. Later on, one bus came from the caves and we adjusted all 67 students in one bus and proceeded towards the heritage site. There was no problem while returning to the T-Point as adequate number of buses were arranged till then. MSRTC lacks coordination, communication and planning. It has been operating the buses for the past many years, then also it is failing to arrange adequate number of buses. The incident had created a wrong impression on the minds of these young Indians. Their sentiments have been hurt. The lethargy is intolerable by the tourists. There will be a heavy rush of tourists in the district after December 20.”
MSRTC defends
MSRTC depot manager (Soyegaon) Vijay Kalwane said, “ On regular basis, five buses are operated from Ajanta T-Point. The sudden arrival of eight excursion buses (of students) at around 9 am, caused disruption in the service. Due to sudden rush the buses were insufficient. However, we increased the number of buses reviewing the rush of tourists and 8-9 buses were operating till 2 pm.”
10 buses daily during Christmas vacation ?
Referring to the expected rush of tourists in the last two weeks, Kalwane added, “We will be operating 10 shuttle buses daily during Christmas vacation.”
Box
Majority of tourists prefer seeing the Ajanta Caves between 10 am to 1 pm.
Demand for shuttle buses is low during afternoon hours.
Distance from T-Point to Caves is 4 km (one-sided).
Ticket fare for a shuttle bus per person (non AC) is Rs 25.