State Transport, Civil Aviation, Railways and Land Resources, minister P Paiwang Konyak flagged off city bus services for Kohima and Dimapur on Monday. The services will involve a total of nine buses – five normal buses for Dimapur and four “pink” buses for ladies, two each for Kohima and Dimapur.
The buses were flagged off by Paiwang at a brief ceremony held at Nagaland State Transport (NST) Dimapur station, which was followed by a press conference.
Speaking to media persons, Paiwang explained that the buses would issue manual slip tickets to passengers inside the bus itself. He said the pink buses were introduced to make it easier for women to travel and keeping in mind Naga society’s tradition of respecting women.
On introducing women conductors and drivers for the pink buses, he said he was considering putting up a proposal for creation of posts in this regard, if women were willing to take up the job.
While the four pink buses are brand new, the five city buses came from 14 condemned Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) buses that were lying unused with the urban department. The transport department took these from the urban department and its engineers then refurbished five of them for use. The remaining nine buses will also be repaired and kept as backup for use in districts where required.
The five buses would run on a trial basis and if it worked out well, more would be introduced, the minister added.
According to Paiwang, Mokokchung and Tuensang districts had also requested for starting town bus services, adding that the issue would be discussed. He appealed to citizens to monitor malpractices committed by officials of the transport department so that stern action could be initiated against them.
While the services would be free for senior citizens, the minister advised other passengers to buy tickets as, in case of any untoward incident like accident, ticketless passengers would not be compensated. He added that NST bus services were withdrawn primarily due to poor revenue collection and bad roads.
Commenting about NST services in general, Paiwang remarked that its services were social in nature as it concentrated in areas where private operators were unable to reach.
Claiming that the bus services were an initiative of the PDA government, Paiwang thanked chief minister Neiphiu Rio for supporting the transport department in launching the new buses, particularly the pink buses that, he asserted, was a first of its kind in the State. He also thanked urban development & municipal affairs minister for the JNNURM buses.
He appeal to the public, NGOs, law enforcing authorities, district administration and all concerned to extend their cooperation so that city buses and pink buses could go a long way in helping the common man and woman.
Earlier, during the brief programme, introductory speech was delivered by transport secretary Kenila Apon, who said the objective of the department in introducing the buses was to ease traffic congestion.
Stating that the buses could seat 32 passengers each, he further appealed to the district administration, NGOs, civil societies, citizens and law enforcing agencies to extend their full support and cooperation to make Dimapur a traffic congestion-free city.
The dedicatory prayer was pronounced by Konyak Baptist Church, Dimapur pastor Rev Tonglong Konyak. The programme was chaired by NST general manager O Elhibemo Yanthan.
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