BHOPAL: The 25,000 beneficiaries of monthly passes for travel in buses of Bhopal City Link Limited (BCLL) have been robbed of the facility. These beneficiaries include senior citizens, as well. The loss incurred by the operator during the corona outbreak is the reason why the operator is unwilling to start the facility. Also, BCLL is planning to issue the passes at higher rates to recover their loss.
BCLL had stopped the facility during the corona outbreak as they had stopped the operation of buses in Bhopal. But, as the operation of buses has resumed and the buses are running at full capacity, the beneficiaries are demanding that the facility be resumed.
The passes were issued under three categories — elderly citizens, students and general — for regular passengers. The worst sufferers of the revocation of the facility are the daily commuters and senior citizens. These passes were issued at subsidised rates and daily commuters would save more than 60 per cent of the total amount they would have otherwise paid.
BCLL would earlier operate 220 buses and, now, only 120 buses are running on select routes in Bhopal. The other buses will soon run in a phased manner. The buses are ferrying 25 per cent fewer passengers than they used to before the lockdown.
Passes at flat rate
The facility was earlier available at Rs 500 a month for elderly citizens, Rs 300 for students and Rs 800 for other commuters, including government employees and daily travellers
Now, BCLL will charge Rs 800 from every passenger after the facility starts
Break-up of passes
Out of the total number of passes, 10 per cent were available for senior citizens, 60 per cent for students and the remaining for others
‘Facility to resume’
"We’re planning to start the facility within a few days. However, the rates for the passes will be increased this time due to various reasons. We’re yet to start operations of all the buses on all the routes and there will also be extra buses that we’ll bring out onto the roads by March," said Sanjay Soni, BCLL manager.
