To end the monopoly of private buses owned by the Badal family and other private bus operators on the interstate routes, the Aam Aadmi Party Government, on Tuesday, said now only state-run buses will be  allowed to enter Chandigarh. Punjab Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said the ‘Punjab Transport Scheme-2018’, “which was formulated by the Congress government to give benefits to Badal family and other private bus mafia, has been amended”. Under this scheme, the entry of private Volvo buses into Chandigarh was made intact, which led to the sheer loot of the state exchequer at a large scale. “The Badal family, during its government’s two tenures from 2007 to 2017, created various schemes to fulfill their personal interests, in which the Congress government also helped the Badals in running their transport  businesses smoothly, including one of inter-state movement of their AC buses to Chandigarh”, said Bhullar. The transport minister said “Punjab Transport Scheme-2018” has been amended to “Punjab Transport (Amendment) Scheme-2022”. With the amendment, now only state transport undertaking buses can enter Chandigarh with their 100 per cent share. The insertion titled with “inter-state route” in the Gazette notification reads, “With the seating capacity of 39 or more, with the further condition that air-conditioned stage carriages shall be run only by the State Transport Undertakings only out of their overall share in each category.” Bhullar said Badal family plundered the state exchequer for their personal gain and provided benefits illegitimately to their associates by forming schemes arbitrarily. He said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led government will not allow to fulfill the vested interests of Badals and their powerful associates at the sake of state exchequer. The Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s family reportedly directly owns over 60 per cent of Punjab’s private bus services including hundreds of luxury coaches. The Parkash Singh Badal government is alleged to have extended route permits and enhanced operational schedules of private bus transporters at the cost of state-run transport buses, whose operational timings were cut and permits taken away.

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