Roopa Lall & John Wilbert
Port Blair, July 07: The Transport Department is planning to introduce AC buses in Andaman and most of these buses will be operated in Andaman Trunk Road.
AC buses will act as an asset and will encourage a more convenient travel for the people living in Andaman. These A.C. buses will be electric too, which will help reduce the carbon footprint that regular diesel engine buses leave on the environment.
Diglipur is situated nearly 325 km away from Port Blair and the route presently has a lot of buses, run by both of state transport and private operators. However, most of them don’t have the facility of Air Conditioners.
People traveling on this route are demanding to introduce AC buses that would make the total travel time of 10 to 12 hours easier since a long time.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha the Director of Transport Department, Dr. Navlendra Kumar Singh recently said that the Transport Department is presently trying to introduce better buses on this route.
The Transport Department has decided to introduce 15 to 17 AC electrical buses for the better convenience of the commuters. These buses are expected to reach Andaman and Nicobar Islands by November or December in 2019.
“We have kept doors open for private bus operators also to operate AC buses in this route. I myself have signed the NOC for two of such buses in recent past. I believe that the private bus operators are yet to purchase the AC buses. As far as State Transport Services is concerned, we have also been thinking about introducing AC buses for the long route on the ATR so that commuters start using local transportation as a preferred mode of commute. This would also make sure that the long distance that they travel is hassle-free. By the efforts of the Chief General Secretary, we are trying to introduce electrical AC buses in our transportation system” Director of Transport, Dr. Navlendra Kumar Singh said. Dr. Singh added that most of these buses will be for ATR route.
At present the journey to Diglipur from Port Blair is horrifying because of ATR up gradation works by NHIDCL but once the ATR is upgraded and AC buses are introduced in ATR route, the journey to Diglipur will be much easier and fun.
