Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 6

While it has been made mandatory to show negative RT-PCR report or Covid vaccination report before entering the state, private buses operating in the night are flouting the guidelines.

Against 50 per cent capacity norms, the buses mostly operating during the curfew hours also stack passengers double the sitting capacity. The illegal buses, having tourist permit, mostly operate from Jalandhar bus stand or the Amritsar-Jalandhar-Phagwara highway. Charging exorbitantly, the operators allow passengers to board the buses without RT-PCR reports.

Dozens of migrant workers were also offloaded from a private bus on Wednesday midnight after members of taxi unions protested against the illegal movement of buses. Against the capacity norm, migrants were reportedly stacked in the bus. In a 55-seater bus, there were reportedly 130 migrants being ferried. After charging over Rs 2,000 per head, around four migrants were accommodated in one sleeper seat and three in two seats.

Sushil Kumar, a 25-year-old migrant who boarded the bus from Amritsar, told the police that the bus conductor asked him to pay Rs 2,250 if he wanted to go to his village in Uttar Pradesh. However, even after paying the money, he was made to share the seat with three other passengers. After being stranded on the highway near Rama Mandi, the migrants were forced to either walk on foot or arrange for other transportation.

Narrating his ordeal, migrant Pankaj said when he questioned the driver about overcrowding, he was slapped and forced to share his seat.

Cantt police station SHO Ajaib Singh said not only the bus had been seized, but an FIR has also been registered against the driver and the conductor under Section 188 of the IPC. He confirmed that there were 130 passengers in the bus against the limit of 25.

DC Ghanshyam Thori assured to take strict action against the illegal bus operators ferrying passengers without RT-PCR reports and violating Covid protocol.