Relief for commuters as 149 Bluelines to join Public Transport

New Delhi, July 21 (UNI) Some relief is in the offing tomorrow for the Delhi commuters, who had a tough time today due to the absence of 4000 bluelines due to Delhi government's checking drive, with the state government saying that the 149 buses cleared by it after the drive would come on the roads.

''The 149 buses cleared by the Government as meeting the required norms will join the public transport fleet tomorrow,''a spokesperson of the Delhi Transport department said.

Of the 393 buses which underwent checking at the DTC depots today, 149 were cleared for road operations while 144 were declared unfit for operation due to their not confirming to the requisite norms.

The decision to put 149 Bluelines on roads tomorrow promises some relief for commuters in Delhi who had a hard day today with the existing fleet of the Delhi transport corporation proving insufficient to meet the passenger load in the city.

Though officials of the DTC claimed that buses of the state transport corporation were out on the city roads in their full strength to meet the public transport needs of the city in the absence of the Bluelines, the ''best foot forward'' by the DTC clearly did not seem to be good enough for the travelling public.

Asked what steps the DTC had taken to meet public transport needs, an official said,''we have mobilised our maximum strength of close to 3000 buses on the city roads to meet the needs of the public. Infact, in order to supplement the city bus service, we have diverted buses operating in NCR region to the city routes besides the buses operating in public schools in Delhi.'' However, at many places in West Delhi XXX(Eds: here pick up from para five of DI 50, TRANSPORT-DELHI-COMMUTER WOES).

UNI