AAP leader re-inaugurates govt bus service

AAP leader and the designated halqa in charge of the Dinanagar Assembly seat Shamsher Singh surprised everyone by re-inaugurating a government bus service which has already been in operation for the past several years.

For the past several years, a Punjab Roadways bus used to ply on the Pathankot-Haridwar route via Mukerian, Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh.

In 2019, when Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chaudhury became the Transport Minister, she asked officials to change the route “so that it was converted into a more viable one". Officials obliged and the Pathankot-Dinanagar-Gurdaspur-Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh-Haridwar route was the new one to be chalked out.

The new route turned out to be more successful than the previous one as it also catered to passengers from Gurdaspur and its satellite towns.

However, when the AAP government came to power in 2022, Halqa in charge Shamsher Singh, “sensing that Chowdhury was raking in the credit”, asked the Transport Department to permanently close the route.

Commuters were forced to make alternative arrangements. Despite delegations of passengers asking Shamsher to reconsider his decision, he remained adamant and refused to revoke it.

Aruna Chaudhury, in the last Assembly season, took up the issue in the question hour. Responding to her query, Transport Minister Laljit Bhullar said he would look into her request of operating the bus again.

The bus commenced operations on April 9. However, four days later, Shamsher stopped the bus from plying. Commuters were flummoxed at the turn of events and once again had to endure hardships.

Sensing that public pressure was building up and the AAP government was being berated and rebuked because of him, Shamsher reached the Dinanagar bus stand yesterday morning and “inaugurated” the bus by waving a flag. A handful of AAP supporters were present at the bus-stand when the ceremony took place.

“The AAP government has made a mockery of itself by inaugurating a service which was already in operation,” said a long-time commuter Vikas Singh.

The MLA today shot off a letter to the Chief Secretary KAP Sinha in which she urged him to stop the Halqa in charge from inaugurating government projects “because he did not hold any constitutional, official or administrative post”.

Shamsher has been asked by the AAP powers-that-be to inaugurate projects in several schools commencing from April 21.

Shamsher could not be reached for his comments despite repeated attempts.

 Commuters inconvenienced When the AAP government came to power in 2022, Halqa in charge Shamsher Singh told the Transport Department to permanently close the Pathankot-Dinanagar-Gurdaspur-Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh-Haridwar route. Commuters were forced to make alternative arrangements. Despite passengers asking Shamsher to reconsider his decision, he remained adamant and refused to revoke it

Punjab