The Uttarakhand Transport Corporation has suffered a loss of ₹1 crore since July 12 because of Kanwariya-related chaos on the roads.
"Buses couldn't ply on many national highways because of the Kanwar Yatra. The corporation has suffered a loss of ₹1 crore since the day the Yatra started," Vishal Chandra, regional zonal manager of the corporation, told reporters in Haridwar on Thursday.
Earlier, corporation officials had said they had reduced the number of buses because of the lower number of passengers during the Kanwar Yatra.
"Thirty buses ran daily between Ramnagar (Nainital) and the New Delhi depot, but this has come down to 20," Naveen Chandra Arya, assistant general manager of the Ramnagar depot, had told reporters.
The situation is similar on other routes.
"The loss of ₹1 crore was incurred in the first 13 days of July. This will increase because the Yatra will continue officially until August 9, and Kanwariyas may continue to come to the state after that. We have recently recovered from a loss and were able to pay the salaries of our staff and maintain the buses. We can't afford such losses again," an officer with the corporation said.
"Passengers don’t travel when they know the roads will be congested. Most passengers who travel from Nainital and Dehradun to New Delhi almost every week cancelled their trips during the Kanwar Yatra,” he added.