HRTC starts packed food, electric buses on its routes

With a view to boosting tourism and making travel in the hills more comfortable, the Himachal Road Transport Corporation will soon provide packed meals on some of its routes.
In an eco-friendly measure, the HRTC will also start an electric bus service on some of its routes, state Transport Minister G S Bali told PTI here today.
The first such bus will be started on the Manali-Rohtang Passroute, he added.
"Himachal Road Transport Corporation will start providing packed lunch and dinner in its Volvo buses to address complaints regarding poor food arrangements of corporation- approved dhabason the highways."
The packed food service will be provided in HRTC buses from ISBT Delhi to Manali, Shimla and Dharamsala, and will later be extended to all Volvo buses.

"The tender is in its final stage and food will be provided within a month to HRTC passengers," said Bali.

The minster added that the charges of the food shall be included in the journey ticket. A low-cost food scheme for passengers has already been started at major bus stands under the state's 'Garib ki thali'.
"I tasted the food in the Hamirpur and Nagrota bus stand canteens and it was nice," he said.
The minister said that when he took charge of the state transport ministry in 2012, the corporation had a fleet strength of around 1600 buses, which has doubled to more than 3200 now.

Bali said an order for 325 buses with a low seating capacity has already been placed.
Out of these, 250 buses will be used for transportation in backward and hilly areas of the state, where plying of big buses is not safe.
He said that 10 new Volvo buses are being included in the fleet of HRTC. These buses willply on additional routes in the Dharamsala and Manali sectors.
Fifty electric buses have been ordered and10 of these will ply on the Dharamsala-McLeodganj route.
The minister said that around 12 new bus stands are ready or have already started functioning.

A few other stands will be constructedwithall modern amenities at Dharamsala,Una, Kullu and Manali.
The bus stand at Manali will be constructed at a cost of Rs 75 crore, Kullu at Rs 30 crore, Dharamsala at Rs 15 crore and Una at Rs 35 crore.