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Amritsar-Lahore
bus embarks on its maiden journey
by Ravinder Singh 'Robin'
Amritsar: Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal flagged off the first bus from Amritsar to Lahore from the international bus terminal here today. According to authorities, the 45-seater Volvo bus, carrying 28 people includes a 16-member Punjab delegation and 12 passengers. The bus will return from Pakistan tomorrow. The government officials include Punjab Transport Minister Mohinder Singh Kapyee, Punjab Excise and Taxation Minister Sardoon Singh, Deputy Speaker of Punjab State Assembly Darbari Lal, Transport Secretary A K Talwar, Director Transport Narinderjit Singh, State Transport Commissioner Iqbal Singh Sidhu. Earlier on January 20, the first bus from Lahore to Amritsar had arrived here carrying 26 passengers and returned with 15 Pakistani officials besides one driver and one liaison officer. The service to Lahore will leave every Friday and return on Saturday and the bus to Amritsar will run on Tuesday and return the next day. The fare for the one-hour drive is 740 Indian rupees and Rs 900 Pakistan rupees. Both sides have completed trial runs on the 45 km route.
India and Pakistan have also agreed to launch a bus service between Amritsar
and Nankana Sahib, a place of pilgrimage for Sikhs soon. Trial runs of
that service will be held on January 27, with an Indian bus running from
Amritsar to Nankana Sahib. The return trail run will be conducted on January
29. Transport links have been one of the most visible signs of the slowly
improving relations between India and Pakistan. In April last year, the
two sides had started a bus service across Kashmir- Srinagar-Muzaffarabad-with
a twice-a-month service. The two sides resumed a bus service between Lahore
and New Delhi, in January 2004, shortly after they agreed to a cease-fire
along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir in November 2003.
-Jan
24, 2006
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