Madhya Pradesh: Bus services from Mahakal to other religious places on anvil 

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): A new bus service named ‘Shri Mahakal Lok Express’ will be run from Mahakal Lok to other religious places of the state like Baglamukhi in Nalkheda, Mata Tekri in Dewas, Omkareshwar and Mandsaur Pashupatinath.    

Likewise, the Bhasa Arti Express bus will be run from Indore for devotees coming to Bhasma Arti of Baba Mahakal.

These instructions were given by Mukesh Tatwal, mayor-cum-chairman of the board of directors of Ujjain City Transport Services Limited (UCTSL) on Tuesday. 

Keeping in view the increasing popularity of Shri Mahakal Lok in the country and abroad, AC buses will be run from Mahakal Lok for branding of city transport services, which will take devotees to religious places like Baglamukhi in Nalkheda, Mata Tekri in Dewas, Omkareshwar and Mandsaur Pashupatinath. 

The facility of night Bhasma Arti Express bus will also be operated considering the popularity of Mahakal Bhasma Arti. 

The buses will be operated under the VGF (Viability Gap Fund), in which concession is given by the government so that there will be no revenue expenditure on UCTSL. 

Buses will also be operated every hour for Indore. Booking of buses can be done online. The facility of electric bikes, cycles and e-rickshaws to visit other religious places of Ujjain city upon the arrival of devotees to Ujjain is being proposed.

The auction of old CNG buses was also discussed in the meeting and it was agreed to float a tender under VGF (Viability Gap Fund) for the operation of AC buses. There will be no revenue expenditure of UCTSL for the operation of buses, on the contrary revenue will be generated from the advertisements on the buses. 

Traffic and transport department in-charge Durga Chowdhary, zone president Purushottam Malviya, additional commissioner Ashish Pathak, superintending engineer GK Kathil and assistant engineer Vijay Goyal were present in the meeting.