Aam Aadmi Party bats for reintroduction of rural ASTC bus services

Special Correspondent

Silchar: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Cachar unit, after lying in low profile, is trying to reassert itself in this southern zone keeping in mind the upcoming parliamentary elections of 2019.

It is to be recollected that due to internal conflicts within the party at its nascent stage, it failed to gain any ground after initial flurry and fluttering. Time has now come to take up public issue or problem and raise its voice in order to create space in the political arena.

How far it will succeed is a matter of time. But Amir Hussain Laskar, a member of the district unit, is confident that the performance of Delhi government under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal with its pronounced policy of transparent governance is no doubt a shining example of how to live up to the expectations of common people.

A team of 6 members who are trying to bring AAP in the limelight are working hard to stand by people and fight for their just cause. So far, no major political party, BJP, Congress or AIUDF, has taken up the problem of decreasing ASTC bus services in rural areas of Cachar and Barak Valley as a whole.

This has created serious problem for the rural populace who are now being deprived of affordable bus services. Private bus operators and other modes of transport charge unusually high fare from the traveling public. Articulating the hardship of rural people, AAP has demanded reintroduction of bus services for rural areas of Kalain, Bagha Bazaar, Dwarbond, Binnakandi, Fulertal, Harinagar, Kumbha and Babu Bazaar.

The timing and frequency of services, AAP points out, should be adjusted with three sets of timings, keeping in mind the convenience of office goers and school as well as college going students as well as the inhabitants of villages. The buses for the routes decided should maintain the timing in the morning and the return of the passengers bound for office and educational institutions. In the absence of ASTC rural bus services, the daily wage earners, vegetable sellers as well as the sick and ailing patients have to face immense hardship in their transportation.

In a memorandum addressed to Chandra Mohan Patowary, Minister of Transport, Government of Assam, and submitted on Tuesday through the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar, AAP has strongly pleaded for the ASTC bus services with a view to easing the communication hurdles of rural population. Mitali Das, Anamul Kalam Majumdar, Apurba Kar Purkayastha, Jasim Ahmed among others who have signed the memorandum hoped that the minister concerned would take their plea with all seriousness it deserves and give due thought to their argument for reintroduction of rural bus services and also for increasing their frequency.