With no Bluelines, commuters head for Metro, DTCs run crowded

New Delhi, July 21 (UNI) With over 4000 blueline buses on a ''forced weekend leave'' due to Delhi government's strict drive for their checking, commuters had a hard day with the existing fleet of the Delhi Transport Corporation proving to be insufficient to meet the passenger load in the city.

The 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.

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. In fact, 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, the ''best foot forward'' by the DTC clearly did not seem to be good enough for the travelling public.

At many places in West and East Delhi, commuters had to wait for long periods to catch buses to reach their destination. What is more, most of the DTC buses were heavily crowded, forcing most commuters to take autowheelers to reach their destinations.

The harried commuters blamed the state government for abrupt withdrawal of the buses without making any alternate arrangements for public transport.

Said Dinesh, who had left his home in Kalyan Puri to go on a picnic with his family to Connaught Place,''today being a Saturday, I had thought we would get buses easily. However, we had to wait for almost an hour to get a bus for Connaught Place.

Even then, the bus we boarded was heavily crowded which made the journey extremely uncomfortable.'' With buses a rarity, it was a field day for the autowheeler drivers who were seen resorting to overcharging customers.

Says Roop Kumar, who had to take an auto for going to his office in Karol Bagh from his house in Mayur Vihar Phase II,''The state government should have made arrangements for enough buses on the city roads before withdrawing them. Also, the DTC could have rescheduled its operations to run buses on roads on routes where there was a shortage due to the absence of Bluelines.'' With buses ''at a premium'', many commuters made a beeline for the Metro trains. In fact, in the absence of blueline buses, the Metro trains running on all three lines - Central Secretariat to Vishwavidyalaya, Shahdara to Rithala and Indraprastha to Dwarka Subcity - witnessed unprecedented rush.

Heavy rush was witnessed at the Central Secretariat, Rajiv Chowk, Shahdara and Barakhamba Road Metro stations.

The over 4000 strong Blueline fleet in Delhi was off the roads today and tomorrow to undergo detailed checks at 34 DTC depots across Delhi to ascertain which of these buses conformed to the requisite norms.

Only those buses which get a clearance from the state department would be allowed to operate on the roads from Monday.

UNI