Visiting Ajanta Caves in shuttle bus costs dearer

Aurangabad, Oct 27:

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has revised the fares of the pollution-free buses (non-airconditioned) that shuttle's between Fardapur T-Point to Ajanta Caves from Tuesday. Hence to travel a distance of 4-km on the shuttle bus, the visitors will have to pay Rs 25 per trip (one side). Earlier, the fare was Rs 20 per trip. However, the fares of air-conditioned shuttle bus (Rs 30, per trip) has not been increased. Meanwhile, the tourists visiting the world heritage Ajanta Caves, tourism associates and other government servants, have expressed their disappointment over the hike in fares.

The operation of private vehicles have been banned 15 years ago. The decision was taken to protect the magnificent paintings at the caves. Meanwhile, the staff of ASI, the labourers working on its sites and others, apart from the visitors, had to daily board the shuttle bus to reach the caves complex and return back to Fardapur T-Point. It was announced that the pollution-free buses having CNG engines will be shuttled on this route. The politicians and the senior officers also announced the same, but the CNG buses remained a dream. Instead, the ordinary buses with the latest engines were operated. Now, the Asiad bus and Shiv Shahi buses shuttle on this 4-km distance. The hike in fare by Rs 5 proved to be a financial burden to the visitors at the Ajanta Caves. The employees and labourers who had to shuttle regularly also expressed their disappointment. All of them demanded to withdraw the fare with immediate effect.

The MSRTC's in charge traffic controller (Ajanta Caves) D N Wadekar said, " The shuttle bus fares have been increased following the hike in diesel charges. The decision on implementation has been taken on a higher level. Many a time, we had to shuttle the bus with less number of passengers."