No entry for private buses in City from February 1 to 5

After much flip-flop and dillydally, the State government on Saturday decided to ban the entry of private buses into Bengaluru city between 7 am and 10 pm from February 1 to 5 in view of Invest Karnataka-2016 summit.

Long-distance private buses will be denied entry into the Outer Ring Road. They may, however, operate inside the city after 10 pm and up to 7 am. An order to this effect has been issued. Entry of trucks into the city has already been banned between 6 am and 10 pm on the designated days. The temporary measure is aimed at easing traffic flow during the global investors’ meet, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem said.

The government had earlier planned to ban entry of both trucks and private buses round the clock from February 1 to 10. Later, it reduced the duration of the ban to five days and also lifted it during the night, owing to stiff opposition from the private transporters. The global investors’ meet or Invest Karnataka-2016 is scheduled to be held between February 3 and 5.

Sources in the Transport Department said the government also toyed with the idea of dropping the proposal to ban the entry of private buses.

A delegation of private transporters had met Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy and urged him to prevail upon the government not to impose the ban. This may have led the City police to delay issuing the order banning private buses. The order banning truck entry into the city was issued on Friday, sources pointed out. Ramalinga Reddy told reporters that he had written to Home Minister G Parameshwara urging him to permit movement of private buses in city limits between 10 pm and 7 am.

“Several objections (to the ban) were raised in the media as it would cause inconvenience to the commuting public. So I suggested the partial ban during GIM,” he stated.

The BMTC, meanwhile, made aternative arrangements to ferry passengers to the different satellite bus stands on the outskirts of the city, where the private long distance buses would be parked.