Sukhbir Badal orders Orbit buses off the roads in Punjab

Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday ordered all buses of the Orbit Aviation Company to be taken off the roads in Punjab.

The directive came after Badal drew flak for three days over the death of a young Dalit girl who died after being pushed out of a moving bus owned by his transport company by her molesters.

Badal, who owns the bus transport company along with his wife union minister Harsimrat Badal, also directed the company officials to send all bus operating staff on an orientation course, a spokesman of the Punjab government said.

He added that the Orbit buses will remain off the roads till the completion of the orientation course for the bus staff.

The opposition Congress had on Saturday announced that it would protest outside the Orbit transport office in Bathinda on Sunday and stop the company's buses in Mohali, adjoining Chandigarh, on Monday.

Aam Aadmi Party activists, led by Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, on Saturday stopped a Mercedes-Benz bus of the Orbit company.

Following the protests, the Punjab police started providing police pilot and escort vehicles to the Mercedes-Benz luxury buses being operated by Badal's company.

The company operates other air-conditioned and non-AC buses also and the staff of these buses have been notorious for violating rules and laws.