NEW DELHI/PATNA: Amid criticism of the Nitish Kumar government for poor handling of migrants during the pandemic, which also became a major poll issue in Bihar, the state transport department on Monday received an award from the Centre for “commendable initiative” for deploying more than 7,000 buses on PPP mode for movement of over 25 lakh migrants during the Covid crisis.
The state transport department had also set up an emergency response team within 24 hours of Covid-induced lockdown facilitating real-time monitoring through the transport management system.
The first two awards of excellence for “Innovation in Urban Transport during Covid-19” went to Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), Bhubaneswar and the Agartala Smart City Ltd (ASCL), Tripura at the virtual summit on urban mobility organised by the housing and urban development ministry (MoHUA).
The CRUT in Odisha capital had converted the neighbouhood bus stops into vegetable vending zones and provided ‘grocery-on-wheels’. It also developed mobile apps such as “MoBus MoStory” and “Games of MoBus” to sensitise people. It also focussed on cashless and contactless ticketing by promoting use of “Mo Card”. “Mo” in Odia means “my”. The ministry said CRUT took the initiative of a virtual training programme of “Bus Pathsala” for more than 1,200 bus crews and staff on safe and eco-sensitive driving during the pandemic.
The ASCL in Tripura capital constructed and initiated a 5-km pedestrian walkway during the pandemic.
On the initiative taken by the Bihar transport department, the state transport secretary, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said a total of 25.5 lakh people, labourers and students, coming from other states were safely taken to their homes, district blocks and district headquarters. “As no means of transportation was running during the nation-wide lockdown, the department arranged the buses for people, who entered the state from Gopalganj, Kaimur, Nawada and Siwan,” he said.
“At least 7,165 buses were operated during the pandemic and as many as 1,556 shramik special trains were operated to bring people trapped in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kota among other places during the nation-wide lockdown,” Agarwal said adding that to prevent the spread of Covid infection during the operation of buses, each and every bus was sanitised and safety protocols were followed by the department.
The other city entities that got the award for commendable initiative are Gurgaon Metropolitan Development Authority, Rajkot and Surat Municipal Corporations in Gujarat and Ernakulam Jilla Autorickshaw Drivers Cooperative Society, Kochi.
Covid-19 could lead to behavioural change in urban mobility : Govt
Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Covid-19 could lead to behavioural change in urban mobility and also give an opportunity to align urban transport towards long term development goals. He said new advancements like smarter transportation systems and traffic management applications would also be used in major cities to increase mobility while highlighting how cities are seeing a rise in transport options like cycling. MoHUA secretary, D S Mishra said the city developments will now be more citizen-centric and there will be more focus on public transport and non-motorised transport.