Ludhiana, June 28
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 the collapse of the City Bus Service Project. In a strongly worded statement, Dewan declared that the failure of the much touted City Bus Service Project is a damning indictment of the MC’s chronic mismanagement and absence of vision. “MC Ludhiana 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 has robbed citizens of accessible, low floor buses designed for all age categories particularly, senior citizens and differently abled.
Dewan asserted that the collapse of the bus service is not an accident but the direct consequence of the MC’s incompetence, lack of accountability and betrayal of Ludhiana’s residents. He reminded that what began in January 2015 under the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) to modernize urban transport in Ludhiana has ended in 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—strewn with garbage,” Dewan said.
Dewan further said that when the nine year contract ended in January 2024, the MC had no replacement plan ready. “No alternative transport plan was announced, even as the city gasps under rising pollution and traffic congestion. This is not merely a transport crisis—it is a civic betrayal. The MC’s inability to execute things properly has left Ludhiana 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.
Dewan also highlighted that the city buses were built with a low floor design so that senior citizens, teenagers, women and differently abled passengers could board easily without struggle. “This was a progressive step toward inclusive public transport. Yet, by allowing the project to collapse and buses to be abandoned, the MC has effectively denied citizens the very accessibility they once had,” he said. Dewan added that instead of protecting and expanding this people friendly fleet, the civic body’s negligence has dismantled it, leaving commuters to fend for themselves on unsafe, overcrowded alternatives.
Dewan urges Warring to take up City Bus Service issue in LS for its early resumption
Asserting that the larger public interest must prevail, Dewan demanded that Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring should raise this critical issue in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. “We urge Warring to forcefully take up the matter in the Lok Sabha, pressing for immediate resumption of the City Bus Service and decisive action against the civic officials responsible for its collapse,” he said.