Srinagar: When the elected government in Jammu and Kashmir held its first assembly session, people heaved a sigh of relief as they expected resolution of their mounting grievances.
But the first session held in Srinagar brought sufferings for thousands of passengers as the traffic police citing traffic congestion in the city disallowed public buses run by the government's State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC).
This informal decision with no government approval has made passengers suffer, dozens of drivers and conductors on the verge of losing livelihood, and daily losses to the corporation which was on revival since the inception of these buses.
Passengers who travel in these buses to Srinagar include employees, students, patients and other working persons say the SRTC buses provide them an affordable and economical means of transport.
"In SRTC buses, I pay Rs 40 fare from Pulwama to Srinagar which is not a burden for me. But when I travel by a cab service, the fare increases thrice which I cannot pay," Saima Jan, a student, told ETV Bharat.
Passengers said that disallowing public transport increases more private transport like cars which create more traffic jams in the city. "When we stop one bus which carries 50 passengers, the passengers are compelled to use their private cars, which creates more congestion," another passenger said.
From a loss making sector for years, the SRTC's revamped transport system helped in revenue generation and the corporation was able to pay its employees, who otherwise would protest daily for their unpaid salaries.
Launched in 2020, the SRTC's new fleet of more than 100 buses was aimed to provide regular and affordable transport to the people in Jammu and Kashmir. Within Srinagar and Jammu cities, the corporation launched around 40 e-buses and rest as diesel-run buses for other ten districts.
General Manager SRTC Showkat Ahmad said that the launch of the new service revived the loss making corporation and the revenue generation increased every financial year.
"From Rs 125 crore in the last financial year, we expect a revenue of Rs 150 crore in the current financial year. We cleared around 70 crore liability also, and the borrowing from the government also decreased sharply. If the buses are halted, the SRTC will again fall into debt," Ahmad told ETV Bharat.
As per the general manager, more than 17600 passengers use these buses daily from the ten districts of the Valley, generating a daily revenue of Rs 8 lakhs.
"After the halts, the revenue collection has decreased to Rs 5 lakh only a day," he added.
The SRTC runs 89 buses daily from Srinagar to north and south Kashmir and these buses employ drivers and conductors whose livelihood depends on these buses.
"When the buses are not allowed to ply from Lal Chowk and Batmaloo, passengers do not board them. It will result in loss of our livelihood," Ajaz Ahmad, a bus driver, told ETV Bharat.
In absence of the SRTC buses, the passengers said that they have very limited and irregular transport options available which include the mini buses and Smart City's e-buses that ferry them from within the city upto its outskirts in Panthachowk and Parimpore.
From these city entering points, the passengers are compelled to use Sumo cabs which charges fare three times more than the SRTC buses.
Citing the Jammu and Kashmir High Court's direction on management of traffic within Srinagar, the city Superintendent of Police Muzaffar Shah told ETV Bharat that the traffic police is complying with the Court direction which had asked the government to "decongest the city".
"Our buses run between 9 to 10 in the morning and 3 to 6 in the evening but do not stop anywhere within the city except for dropping passengers at some designated stops. We keep our buses at the Bemina bus yard for the day and do not run with the city during this time. How do we create traffic congestion," Ahmad, the driver, said.
Official sources said that the issue of halting buses cropped up last year, too, but when it was taken up with traffic police and divisional commissioner, Kashmir, nobody had objected to running of these buses from the city.
Shabir Matt, Private transporters union leader, said that their delegation met the chief minister Omar Abdullah and his adviser Nasir Aslam Wani and raised the issue of stopping SRTC buses from running through the city roads.
"Either the traffic police should allow our buses to run through the MA Road or stop SRTC buses also. Since the meeting with the CM, the SRTC buses were halted," the leader told ETV Bharat.
But adviser Wani denied the government having any role halting of the buses. "I will look into the issue," Wani told ETV Bharat.
Administrative Secretary Transport Niraj Kumar said the traffic police stops these buses citing traffic congestion in the city. "I will take up the matter with the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, and IGP traffic for resumption of the service," Kumar told ETV Bharat.
Read more:
