The Yogi Andityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will shortly start bus services for 12,200 villages via UPSRTC, which serves 88,000 villages in the state. This is part of an effort to link every village in the state with public transportation.
With the help of buses hired under contract, the state administration intends to reach its goal. The state administration provided the information in answer to a query raised during Friday’s assembly.
It is interesting that Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister, personally urged the transportation agency to provide bus services to every hamlet in the state at a recent UPSRTC event.
Transport Minister (Independent Charge) Daya Shankar Singh said in answer to a query from a Legislative Assembly member that the state government was working on the campaign and that soon there wouldn’t be a single community in the state without access to Transport Corporation buses.
He said that the government intended to expand the number of contracted buses in order to provide jobs for the populace and enable the bus service to reach every community.
According to the transport minister, the Transport Corporation operates more than 1.10 lakh buses in the state. Among these, 29,048 are contract buses and 81,070 are corporate buses. This indicates that 26% of the buses are on contract, while 74% of the buses are owned by the roads.
He responded to a query on the earnings of the Transport Corporation by saying, “Earlier the Transport Corporation was earning Rs 11 to 12 crores per day, now it has increased between Rs 18 and 21 crores per day.”
The transport minister stated that not a single “Daggamar bus” was running in the state in answer to another query about “Daggamar (illegal) buses” He objected to the term “Daggamar,” saying that no buses would be discovered operating in the state without a national authorization. Every bus must pass an insurance and fitness test before it can operate.
He said that anyone operating buses in violation of the law face harsh punishment from the Transport Department.