Ranchi, Nov. 1: Passenger buses meant to ferry pilgrims are carrying narcotics and contraband in Jharkhand and Orissa.

Two buses, which were granted permits to ply between Deoghar in Jharkhand and Puri in Orissa, covering the “pilgrimage circuit”, are actually plying between Ranchi and Bhubaneswar. The owner of one of the buses is a motor vehicle inspector posted in Ranchi.

The Lower Bazar police recently recovered two bags of ganja weighing 50 kg from the bus (JH 13A 0585) while it was parked at the Birsa Bus Stand in the capital. A case (91/2002) was lodged under the Narcotics Control Act. Sources added that the lower-rung police officials were hand-in-glove with the bus owners. “The bus carrying ganja was allowed to ply without legal action. It was not even detained for one hour,” the sources added.

The state transport authority of erstwhile Bihar had issued permanent permits (PP-2/94 and 3/94) to Seema Agrawal (JH 13A 0325) and Vijay Agrawal (JH 13A 0585) respectively to ply between Deoghar and Puri via Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Jamsola, Baripada, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar nearly seven years ago, following a bipartite agreement between Bihar and Orissa governments to connect the religious sites in the two states. “The buses, instead of plying between the two places, started illegal business in connivance with the officials of the transport and police departments. The buses did not cover the permitted terminals to make extra trips between Ranchi and Bhubaneswar. Deoghar to Puri would mean an additional 300 km and 10 hours more on Jharkhand roads,” sources in the STA said.

Hazaribagh District Bus Owners’ Association president Pradeep Kumar said the buses never plied between the permit terminals. Contractor of Ranchi-based Birsa Bus stand, Kaleem Khan, confirmed the fact saying the buses have been plying between Ranchi and Bhubaneswar for a long time. “The buses come from Bhubaneswar and never go to Deoghar,” he said.

Citing a possible reason for the non-interference of the department officials and the police, sources at the transport department said Vijay Agrawal was a Ranchi-based motor vehicle inspector. Agrawal was not available for comment. Transport commissioner Chintu Nayak, however, denied the allegation and said he had initiated action as per law. “I have no information that any MVI is running buses illegally. We have received a complaint against two permit holders one month ago and issued show-cause notices to them.I am waiting for the replies,” Nayak said.

He promised that the matter would be sternly dealt with if the allegations were found true.

Sources said the Jharkhand government, which has failed to constitute a state transport corporation, has little control over private buses plying in the state.

“Some bigwigs of Bihar politics have been running buses in Jharkhand in violation of the permit rules. These buses mostly ply on the Ranchi-Patna route,” sources said.