UP govt likely to start direct bus for Vaishno Devi

After announcing the construction of Kailash-Mansarovar Yatri Bhawan in the state, the Yogi Adityanath government may soon start a direct luxury bus service to J&K to cater to the devotees visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine.

A proposal for an inter-state agreement has already been sent to the J&K government and minister of state for transport (independent charge) Swatantra Deo Singh is expected to visit Jammu & Kashmir soon.

A western UP city like Meerut, Noida or Baghpat will be the origin point of the proposed bus service.

“We are exploring the possibility of a direct bus service for devotees who travel in a large number from west UP to Vaishno Devi round the year,” principal secretary, transport, Aradhana Shukla told Hindustan Times.

Presently, there is no interstate agreement between the two states and a direct bus service for Vaishno Devi can begin only after an agreement is signed.

Shukla said UP was not only trying to ink a pact with J&K for inter-state bus operation but was also trying to strengthen its existing agreements with states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand and MP.

She said there was a proposal to operate buses from more cities for various towns in Nepal.

“We are chalking out a timetable for the inter-state bus operations in a way that they are able to compete with rail journey,” she said.

A team of officials from the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) had earlier visited J&K to help the stateowned road transport corporation implement IT projects like e-ticketing, online and GPS-ena- bled bus tracking system among other things.

Sources said starting a direct bus service for Vaishno Devi would also send the right political message to the BJP’s constituency.

Immediately after coming to power, the BJP government had announced construction of a Kailash-Mansorvar Yatri Bhawan in Ghaziabad.