Even as most Government services have been normalised from the crippling effects of Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, AC city bus services from Durg to Raipur Airport are yet off the road, much to the inconvenience of

daily commuters.

Air-conditioned city buses introduced on the route from Durg to Raipur Airport catered to a large population of Durg, Bhilai-1, 2, 3 and Charoda. These buses carried over 22,000 passengers on the route. As the temperature in these cities is already scorching high, daily commuters and occasional passengers are missing the comfort of those air-conditioned buses even more.

Raipur City Bus Limited (RCBL) had dedicated 12 air-conditioned buses to ply on the Durg-Raipur Airport route.

The first air-conditioned city bus would start at 6.15 am from Durg Railway Station and reach its final destination Swami Vivekananda Airport at around 8.10 am. The next bus would be available from Durg Railway Station to Swami Vivekananda Airport Raipur half an hour later and last bus would start at 6.30 pm and end its journey at the Airport at 8.30 pm. These buses used make at least 24 trips between the destinations on a typical day.

Unfortunately, the pandemic-induced lockdown had brought the inter-city bus services like others to a halt with strict safety protocols of social distancing and sanitation put in place. As the lockdown ended and Covid-19 cases reduced to the minimal, city buses returned to the roads and even the private buses started plying between Durg and Raipur, but not the air-conditioned city buses.

But the daily commuters who relied on these buses have been left waiting.

Daily commuters Vishnu Mandal complained that he is missing the service even more in summer. It was cheaper and comfortable, which is hard to come by in private buses. Another commuter Deepika said she is facing a lot of problems to commute for job daily in the absence of these air-conditioned buses. Diwaker said city buses were important from perspective of a safe mode of transport. Now, he is left with trains that are not consistent

and private buses, which are expensive. Not to mention, most private buses are not air-conditioned. A Raipur-resident Madhu Sona said he is not daily commuter but has to travel on many occasions to Bhilai, which has now become a tough task after the shifting of bus stand to Bhatagaon as it is too far from his home at Fafadih. On the query regarding the inordinate delay in restarting of airconditioned city buses between Durg Railway Station to Swami Vivekananda Airport, Raipur City Bus Limited (RCBL) Officer incharge Badri Chandrakar told The Hitavada that it would take a minimum of 3 to 4 months to restart the bus service between Durg Railway Station to Swami Vivekananda Airport, but it could get delayed further, given that there are a lot of things that need to be fixed. A process to issue fresh tender is set in motion and then there is the issue of fixing new bus fares. However, a decision regarding restarting of the service has been taken. Furthermore, all those buses are collecting dust at depot for too long and they’re not in a state of running, so it would need full safety testing of the mechanical components of these buses before allotting fitness certificates to return to the roads. We can’t skip and go against the set process, Chandrakar asserted