By IANS
New Delhi : With around 60 percent of the "killer" Blueline buses staying off the roads Wednesday, the Delhi government decided to ply 900 more Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses from Thursday to mitigate the hardships faced by tens of thousands of commuters.
Sending a strong message to the bus operators, Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf said: "We are not going to compromise on this. These operators are free to come forward and ply their buses according to the guidelines laid down by us."
Yusuf told reporters: "We have cancelled the leave of all our DTC employees and asked the Uttar Pradesh government to ply nearly 125 buses now run by DTC on the UP-Delhi routes from tomorrow. This will help us improve our service from Thursday."
Commuters from all parts of Delhi and its suburbs had to wait for about half an hour to two hours to catch a bus to their desired destinations as over 60 percent of the 4,200 privately operated Blueline buses were not plying.
A majority of them stayed off the road to avoid the ongoing crackdown against errant bus drivers.
"I have been waiting for almost one hour to catch a bus from ITO to Hauz Khas. The numbers of DTC buses are few and Bluelines are not coming at all," said Geeta Rani, a commuter.
"I have been waiting to go to Badarpur for nearly 45 minutes. Only one bus came but it was jam-packed. I don't know when will I be able to reach home," said Lokesh Kumar, who was stranded in Connaught Place in the heart of the city.
Amid all the suffering, some commuters were a happy lot. "Though we are getting late yet it's better than being killed by Bluelines. The drivers are completely reckless and conductors behave badly with passengers," said Parsuram, a commuter.
The transport minister said DTC buses would ply with full capacity between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Blueline buses, indispensable for the ordinary commuter but dubbed "killer buses" because of their almost daily involvement in accidents, kill over 100 people every year and authorities have merely looked away till now.
Bluelines have killed 61 people so far this year and injured at least 145 others. These buses have mowed down five people, including two teenagers, in July alone
Voicing the public distrust, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Tuesday said that she would rather walk than travel in the privately operated Bluelines. Dikshit last week promised to phase out Bluelines from capital roads by 2010.