Commuters bear the brunt

Vijay Pratap Singh
Posted online: Saturday , August 09, 2008 at 03:00:20

Allahabad, August 8 The August 9 BSP rally brought woes for millions of commuters in the state on Friday, as over 2,000 buses of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) stayed off the roads.

The state party leaders had booked these buses to reach the venue of the national conference of the BSP at the Ramabai Ambedkar ground in Lucknow. Thousands of passengers remained stranded at bus stations across the state.

There are 17 regions of UPSRTC and each region has earmarked up to 200 buses for ferrying the BSP members to Lucknow. “Over 2,000 buses would remain off the road for two days,” said Chandra Shekhar Pandey, state President of Roadways Karmachari Sanyukt Parishad

The UPSRTC buses carry over 4 crore passengers daily, said a department official. The Allahabad, Varanasi, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Azamgarh, Hardoi, Aligarh and Jhansi regions of the UPSRTC have reportedly kept aside over 1,200 buses for the rally.

While the BSP leaders have booked only 145 UPSRTC buses from the Allahabad region, the department had reportedly sent 200 buses for the rally. Regional manager of UPSRTC, SK Banerjee said the party paid Rs 16 lakh in advance for the buses in Allahabad.

Regarding the inconvenience caused to the passengers, he said the department had increased the frequency of the remaining 230 buses in the region. The actual situation, however, belied his claim, as thousands of passengers remained stranded at several bus stations in the region.

BSP sources said each MLA was asked to manage 15 buses for the party workers. A leader’s ranking in the party would depend on his ability to manage vehicles and workers.

The BSP candidate for the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency Ashok Kumar Bajpai booked 90 buses of UPSRTC and 110 private buses. “We paid money for the buses and did not misuse the state machinery,” said Kumar.