Someone had to attend a wedding, someone a funeral, someone had to visit a patient… but there was no ST bus!

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

“There’s a wedding of a relative in Beed today… time is slipping away.” “My mother has been admitted to a hospital in Latur… there’s no information on when the bus will depart.” “A relative has passed away in Tuljapur… I need to attend the funeral, but there’s no bus even after hours.” “If I’m late for the office in Jalna, my salary will be cut.”

Every commuter had a different problem and a different urgency, but one common need , travelling by ST bus. However, on Friday, thousands of passengers waiting at the Central and Cidco bus stands faced disappointment and distress as buses failed to operate on time.

As 65 ST buses were sent for zilla parishad and panchayat samiti election duties, as many as 266 ST trips were cancelled in a single day. “Elections are important, but won’t anyone look at our urgency and our suffering?” questioned commuter Niranjan Satpute. Sumanbai Dahihande complained that no information was provided about which buses had been cancelled.

144 trips cancelled at Cidco bus stand

The Cidco bus stand has 76 buses, of which 30 were deployed for election work. Out of 316 scheduled trips, 144 were cancelled during the day. Several long-distance buses to Nagpur, Akola, Yavatmal and Solapur were cancelled in the morning session. “We operated buses in the afternoon on routes with heavier passenger load,” said station manager, Cidcob bus stand, S. S. Popalghat.

122 trips cancelled from Central bus stand

At the Central bus stand, 30 out of 114 buses were sent for election duty, resulting in the cancellation of 122 out of 288 trips. As rural schools were closed due to elections, buses from rural routes were diverted towards major cities, said transport inspector, Central bus stand, Lalit Shah.

“Buses are needed for elections, but the ST corporation should have planned this in advance. Ordinary passengers suffered today,” said Baliram Shinde, a commuter from Jalna.

Commuters to face trouble today as well

From Cidco and Central bus stands together, 190 buses operate 604 trips daily. On Friday, 266 of these trips were cancelled. As buses remain limited, a similar number of trips are likely to be cancelled on Saturday as well.