Bhopal, Sep 25 Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav inaugurated the ‘Mukhyamantri Sugam Parivahan Seva’ and ‘PM-eBus Sewa’ in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, relaunching a public bus service in the state after 21 years.
The launch was made on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, a founding member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the ruling BJP.
“Today, the Mukhyamantri Sugam Parivahan Seva and PM-eBus Sewa are being launched,” Yadav said at the event at BHEL Dussehra Maidan here, where he and Gadkari flagged off 351 buses in seven cities.
The PM-eBus Sewa is a central scheme to augment city bus operations with eco-friendly electric buses under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
The CM alleged that Congress had conspired to abolish the state bus service.
Yadav said the government has set a target of operating 1,500 buses across the state in the first year and would gradually expand the network to connect cities with villages. The government aims to provide bus connectivity to 75 per cent of gram panchayats across Madhya Pradesh.
The launch marks the revival of government-supervised bus services in the state after the Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation shut down in 2005. The process to wind up the corporation had begun in 1995.
The 351 buses launched on Friday comprise intercity and intracity services in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Rewa, Dewas, Katni and Bhind.
The new service will be operated under a PPP model and expanded across cities and districts in phases, with different categories of buses, including electric buses.
These buses, which have CCTV cameras and panic buttons, will be run with the aim of providing citizens with accessible, safe, modern and environmentally friendly transportation, said officials.
MP has set a target of operating 15,000 buses by 2031. After the first year’s target of 1,500 buses, around 2,500 to 3,000 buses are proposed to be added every year, said officials.
Yadav said the government was taking decisions aimed at improving facilities for people and announced that one lakh government posts would be filled.
He also referred to the removal of the barricades of the Bus Rapid Transit System in Bhopal, saying they had been causing inconvenience to people for years. Yadav said the Union Carbide waste lying in the city had also been disposed of, describing it as a step towards protecting the city from hazardous waste.
Taking a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who recently held his party’s youth outreach programme ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ in Indore, Yadav said the BJP had won elections in several states, including West Bengal, but the “Rajkumar” was not ready to accept the verdict.
“The Rajkumar is there because of his family lineage. He thinks he was born to become the prime minister, but this is a democracy and the people know everything,” Yadav said.
The chief minister said more than 5 lakh kilometres of roads had been built in Madhya Pradesh, making travel from villages and small towns to schools, colleges and cities easier.
Addressing the occasion, Gadkari said that at present there are two buses for every 1,000 people in the country against the world standard of eight buses per 1,000 people.
The PM e-Bus Sewa will generate large-scale employment. “We intend to manufacture two lakh buses in three years,” he said.
The automobile industry, which was worth Rs 7 lakh crore, generated the highest revenue and employed 4.5 crore people, he said.
“After coming to power, we were at seventh position, then at fourth position in the automobile sector. A year ago, we surpassed Japan and reached third position. India is at third position after America and China,” he said.
In five years, India needs to become the third largest economy in the world. To do this, the auto industry must be brought to the top position, the Union minister said.
(PTI News)
