Former president of the District Congress Committee, Ludhiana (Urban) and former Chairman of the Punjab Large Industrial Development Board, Pawan Dewan, has lambasted the Municipal Corporation (MC), Ludhiana, over collapse of the City Bus Service project.
In a strongly worded statement, Dewan said the failure of the much-touted City Bus Service project was a damning indictment of the MC’s chronic mismanagement and absence of vision. “The MC reduced urban transport to a one-time showcase project instead of treating it as a continuously managed public service,” he said, adding that the civic body’s negligence had robbed citizens of accessible and low-floor buses designed for all age categories, particularly, senior citizens and differently abled.
Dewan asserted that the collapse of the bus service project was not an accident but the direct consequence of the MC’s incompetence, lack of accountability and betrayal of city residents. He reminded that what began in January 2015 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to modernise urban transport in Ludhiana has ended in a chaos, leaving commuters stranded and the civic body locked in disputes with a private operator. “The fallout is borne by daily commuters, who now pass dozens of idle buses rotting at the Hambran Road depot,” he said.
Dewan said when the nine-year contract ended in January 2024, the MC had no replacement plan.
“No alternative transport plan was announced, even as the city gasps under rising pollution and traffic congestion. It is not merely a transport crisis but a civic betrayal. The MC’s inability to execute things properly has left the city without a reliable bus service. For a city that desperately needs clean, efficient public transport, the corporation’s negligence has turned progress into paralysis,” he said.
“The project was a progressive step towards inclusive public transport. Instead of protecting and expanding the people-friendly fleet, the civic body has dismantled it,” the Congress leader said.
Take up issue in LS: Dewan to MP Warring
Pawan Dewan demanded that Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring should raise the critical issue in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. “We urge Warring to take up the matter in the Lok Sabha, pressing for immediate resumption of the City Bus Service and decisive action against civic officials responsible for its collapse,” he said.
