Patowary: Comforts of air travel on land!

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 8: The comforts of air travel on land! It sounds odd but State Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary made such a statement on the floor of the State Assembly today.

Patowary said that Volvo ride will be a reality in Assam soon. “Volvo buses with all comforts offered to air passengers will run on the roads in Assam soon. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect has been sighed with Volvo. Initially, the company will provide us ten Volvo buses as a pilot project in the city. Later, such buses will run elsewhere in the State,” Patowary informed the House.

Patowary further said: “The previous government recruited 3,000 employees in the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) rampantly. However, the situation in the corporation was such that as and when a bus was sent to the garage for low-battery problem the bus would lose its wheels, and bus that had to be sent to the garage for wheel problems would lose its battery. This is why we’ve made repair of the around 600 ASTC buses compulsory. We’ve asked them to take the buses bought from Tata to the company for repair, and the like. We’ve also asked them to go for annual maintence contracts (AMCs) with vehicle companies.”

Patowary further said that the plight of many ASTC stations in the State is very poor. “Funds were released by the previous government for the development of station infrastructure. However, the then ASTC MD diverted the funds for paying salaries of the Corporation’s employees. An inquiry has been ordered into it, and there may be arrests,” he said.