Minister’s Flying Squad nail two drivers pilfering 42 liters of diesel ;3private buses challaned, 1 bus impounded

Conductor caught embezzling passengers ticket money, six govt buses found operating on unscheduled routes reported

Chandigarh, July 20:

          Punjab Transport Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar, on Thursday, informed that the Minister’s Flying Squad, formed to curb corrupt practices in the department, has caught two drivers of government buses for pilfering 42 litres of diesel theft. Besides this, a conductor was also caught for not issuing tickets to passengers after collecting money from them. While, three private buses were challaned for plying sans valid documents, and one bus operating without any document has been impounded.

          Divulging further, Laljit Singh Bhullar said that the Flying Squad conducted a raid last night around 10:15 pm at Sirhind and caught driver Sukhveer Singh red-handed, stealing 22 litres of diesel from Bus No. PB-65ET 0542 of PUNBUS Dipot Chandigarh. Similarly, at Rajpura around 1:30 AM, the squad caught Gagandeep Singh the driver of Bus No. PB-02-EH 3066 of PUNBUS Amritsar-Sahib-2, pilfering 20 liters of diesel.

          During the checking at Kupp, the Flying Squad reported conductor Karamjeet Singh of Bus No. PB-10GX 8526 of Ludhiana Depot for not issuing tickets to the passengers despite collecting Rs.180 from them.

          Apert from this, the Minister’s Flying Squad conducted checking at the Ludhiana bus stand and challaned private buses operating without valid documents including permits, taxes and insurance. During checking spree, the Bus No. PB-10HF 0345 of JR Coach was challaned for operating without tax, insurance and pollution certificate, while another Bus No. PB-10HH 6034 of JR Coach was impounded for running without valid documents. Likewise, the Bus No. PB-29X 7866 of Malwa Highways Moga and the Bus No. PB-04AC 3066 of Malwa Roadways, Giddarbaha were challaned for operating without insurance and pollution certificate, respectively.

          The Flying Squad also reported six buses operating on unscheduled routes. During the checking at Ucha Pind, the Bus No. PB-02-EG 4389 of Patti Depot was found operating on an unscheduled route. Similarly, during the checking in Gurudaspur, the Bus No.PB-02-EH 2672 of Amritsar-1 Depot and Bus No. PB-08-CX 6984 of Jalandhar-1 Depot were also found plying on unscheduled routes. In Phagwara, bus no. PB-02-EG 9438 of Patti Depot and bus no. PB-02-DR 2798 of Tarn Taran Depot were found on different routes than the scheduled ones. Bus No. PB-46M 8995 of Patti Depot was found running on unscheduled route during checking in Kartarpur. A security guard was found absent from duty during the raid in Sirhind.

          Transport Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar instructed the officials of the department to take immediate action against the erring employees.