Chennai: PMK founder S. Ramadoss has criticised the government for announcing special buses during Deepavali, which he said will result in a loss to the exchequer. In a statement, Ramadoss said the government announcing 11,959 special buses for the festival to ferry travellers from the city to their native places, would cost the state Rs 18.28 crore loss.
“The government is calling upon fleets of buses from the southern and western districts of Tamil Nadu. These buses ply to the city almost 90 per cent empty. Just one trip for one bus would result in a loss of Rs 12,000. There will be 4271 such buses that will be operated during the three day festival rush,” Ramadoss
said.
“Even last year, when the state operated around 9,000 special buses, the vehicles making the return journey to the city empty did not even have the money to pay the toll. Conductors borrowed money from other buses going out of the city to pay the toll,” he said.
Responding to the statement, transport minister P. Thangamani said Ramadoss was making baseless allegations with a political motive. “Not even one passenger had a complaint about there being lack of buses to travel back home. Myself and all higher officials of the transport department are staying at Koyambedu from 4 pm to 5 am for the last couple of days to ensure that commuters travel without hassles. Because service to people is more important to us than collection figures,” he said.
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