In a landmark move, Minister for Transport, Satish Sharma, today flagged off a special end to end bus service from Jammu to Prayagraj. The initiative comes after instructions by the Transport Minister to facilitate and honour the religious faith of people of J&K.
Taking swift action on the instructions, MD JKRTC, Rakesh Kumar Srangal, ensured immediate commencement of the bus service to Triveni, Prayagraj to celebrate Maha Kumbh Mela 2025.
Giving more details regarding the bus service, the Minister informed that the special bus service will commence from Jammu Bus Stand every morning at 5 AM which will take the pilgrims to Prayagraj (Triveni) for holy dip at Sangam and also will take the passengers back after a night halt.
He further added that in order to facilitate people with smooth experience of travel fair, the JKRTC in collaboration with J&K Bank has introduced QR code system for online payments for the commuters.
The Minister stressed that the government is committed to promote religious tourism and is going to take many significant initiatives to improve connectivity between major religious destinations in the region including Budda Amarnath, Shahdara Sharif, Sudh Mahadev, Golden temple etc.
The Minister asserted that the introduction of these bus services is expected to bring a range of benefits to the area viz a viz generating more revenue for the Corporation. Appreciating the MD JKRTC, the Minister said that Transport Department continues to align its services with the aspirations of the people, delivering impactful solutions promptly.
Later, the Minister reviewed the functioning of Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) in respect of his constituency Chhamb. MD JPDCL, Mohammad Yadin Chowdhary, during a detailed presentation, apprised regarding the physical and financial achievements of the Corporation.
He also provided an overview of performance parameters including billing efficiency, collection efficiency and other commercial metrics in Chhamb constituency. He also apprised that the overall power situation in Jammu had significantly improved, with unscheduled power cuts largely minimised, except on a few occasions due to low frequency/technical constraints at the Northern grid, particularly during peak load times.
Satish Sharma observed significant improvements in many areas with reduced losses. He exhorted for maximising revenue and reducing Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses. The Minister asked the officers to focus on reducing losses at all divisional and sub-divisional levels.
The Minister emphasised on PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana to increase the share of solar rooftop capacity and empower residential households to generate their own electricity. He asked the officials to generate massive awareness regarding PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojna and provide necessary assistance to the people regarding process for installation of solar panels.