Long-distance buses parked at the ASTC headquarters in Paltan Bazar on Thursday. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Jan. 22: The state transport department has ordered the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) to conduct a probe into the circumstances leading to the hijacking of the Guwahati-Siliguri bus in Nalbari district on January 19.

Transport minister Anjan Dutta said he had asked ASTC managing director R.C. Jain this evening to carry out the probe and submit a report within 15 days. Based on the report, measures would be initiated to make long-distance travel to and from Guwahati a tension-free experience, he added.

The move, sources said, is aimed at reining in bus operators who are not paying heed to the standing order that they should not pick up roadside passengers, especially at night.

With city police yesterday saying that it would not be possible to check robberies on wheels without the “active” co-operation of bus operators and commuters and the ASTC pleading helplessness too, the department may bring in new measures to check road troubles.

The measures being contemplated include strictly enforcing group travel at night, heavy fines on those picking up passengers from roadside and introduction of armed guards on long-distance buses.

There have been several instances of dacoities in the past two months along National Highways 31 and 44, the latest being the one involving the Guwahati-Siliguri bus plying under the banner of the ASTC on January 19. The driver and staff of the bus are still being questioned by Nalbari police.

Sources said in most cases, the dacoits board the bus as passengers in Guwahati. To tackle the situation, the Cachar district administration has decided to send armed personnel on the buses.

The ASTC today controls 80 per cent of the travel market but private buses operating under its banner continue to violate standing orders on one pretext or other.

Sources said the practice of picking up roadside passengers other than those from authorised bus stops and stations, casualness in noting down the names and addresses of passengers, poor operator-police co-ordination and reluctance of passengers and drivers towards police-checking have made the dacoits’ task easy.

Additional superintendent of police (city) Bibekananda Das said those at the ticket counters should undertake random checking of luggage and report suspicious characters to the nearby stations. “The Nalbari incident involved passengers who got up at Rangiya. These measures, if implemented, will dissuade miscreants,” he added.

“Let us hope the authorities gets tough with erring drivers and bus operators and come out with orders that are strictly implemented,” Ranjan Goswami, a frequent traveller, said.