Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri while presiding over the 155th meeting of the Board of Directors of Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) here today said that HRTC was working with complete dedication to provide the best services to the commuters, ensuring they experience the comfortable and safe journey.
The Board of Directors (BoD) appreciated the work being done by the Corporation and ensured that everyone would cooperate to provide better facilities in future. The Deputy Chief Minister formally launched the Centralized Inventory Management System (CIMS) under which effective monitoring and control of inventory could be done on a daily basis at the head office and at block levels as well.
Under the CIMS, a unit in need of a spare part could place online orders to other units. This way the new system would stop local procurement effectively and also save public money. At present, the CIMS is being run on a trial basis at Divisional Workshop Tara Devi and Jassur, and Regional Workshop Shimla Local, Una and Dharamshala.
It was informed in the meeting that the development of the Integrated Ticketing Management System was under process. On completion, Himachal Pradesh would become the first state to provide ticketing facility through debit card, credit card, UPI, QR code and National Common Mobility Card to the commuters in government buses.
The Deputy Chief Minister also released the information booklet of Pratham Darshan service and directed the corporation to rebrand the buses being run under this service. Discussions were also held on the recruitment process of drivers. The online facility of issuing bus passes would soon be started to aid students and other people, stated Sh. Agnihotri.
It was also informed that the Corporation has released an amount of Rs 11 crore 43 lakh to Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board for setting up electrical charging stations at 11 places in Shimla Local and Hamirpur/Nadaun.
In Shimla, these charging stations would be installed at Shimla Local Workshop, near ISBT Tutikandi, Taradevi Workshop, Theog Bus Stand, Arki and Junga. Similarly, in Hamirpur/Nadaun, these charging stations would be established at Hamirpur Workshop, Hamirpur Bus Stand, Jahu Bus Stand, Nadaun Bus Stand and New Electric Depot Nadaun.
Sh. Agnihotri said that as per the government's decision to promote green energy, diesel run buses were being replaced by electric buses. "The corporation had proposed to purchase 1,932 electric buses in the next 4 years. For the fiscal 2024-25, 297 Type 1 buses and 30 Type 3 buses would be purchased," he remarked.
The Deputy Chief Minister directed to take permission from the Finance Department to purchase busses in the current fiscal. He also advocated maintaining complete transparency while purchasing the buses from global tender on an annual basis.
He also directed the HRTC to lay more emphasis on publicity so that all the information and services related to the corporation were available online to the people. Photos and videos, highlighting HRTC's remarkable journey and achievements, obtained under a competition were also shown to the Board of Directors and appreciated by all the members.
Mukesh Agnihotri also instructed to make calendar, diary and key chain of the corporation and make them available to all the employees.Managing Director, HRTC, Rohan Chand Thakur welcomed all the members of the Board of Directors and conducted the proceedings.
Non official members of the Board of Directors, Principal Secretary R.D. Najeem, Director Transport Anupam Kashyap and other officers and employees of the corporation were also present in the meeting.