MP gets public bus service after 21 yrs

Bhopal: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav inaugurated the ‘Mukhyamantri Sugam Parivahan Seva’ and ‘PM-eBus Sewa’ in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, relaunching a public bus service in the state after 21 years.

The launch was made on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, a founding member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the ruling BJP.

“Today, the Mukhyamantri Sugam Parivahan Seva and PM-eBus Sewa are being launched,” Yadav said at the event at BHEL Dussehra Maidan here, where he and Gadkari flagged off 351 buses in seven cities. The PM-eBus Sewa is a central scheme to augment city bus operations with eco-friendly electric buses under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The CM alleged that Congress had conspired to abolish the state bus service. Yadav said the government has set a target of operating 1,500 buses across the state in the first year and would gradually expand the network to connect cities with villages. The government aims to provide bus connectivity to 75 per cent of gram panchayats across Madhya Pradesh. The launch marks the revival of government-supervised bus services in the state after the Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation shut down in 2005. The process to wind up the corporation had begun in 1995.

The 351 buses launched on Friday comprise intercity and intracity services in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Rewa, Dewas, Katni and Bhind.