Monday Musing
[ Junroi Mamai ]
For a large number of people residing in Changlang, travelling to capital Itanagar has become an ordeal. Public transport is infrequent, poorly maintained and unreliable. The Arunachal Pradesh State Transport Services (APSTS) bus service between Changlang district headquarters and Itanagar has also deteriorated with time, causing much hardship among the people.
The APSTS bus service connecting the district headquarters to the state capital was halted for over four months recently, following the breakdown of the lone vehicle plying the 340 km-long route.
During this period people were compelled to seek private bus service up to the nearest town in Assam, which is Margherita under Tinsukia district, and then proceed to take a private taxi to reach Changlang town because there is no direct bus service to the district headquarters besides the APSTS-run service. Meanwhile, private bus service operators have seen this as an opportunity and begun charging exorbitant fares from the passengers for uncomfortable rides, especially during emergencies or festive seasons. The passengers were compelled to pay higher travel fares for months.
Without a proper bus service, people travelling from the district headquarters to the state capital for various purposes are left stranded, especially patients in need of specialized medical treatment in capital-based hospitals and students who have to commute for exams or higher education. The government employees posted in the district also suffer from scheduling issues.
A few years back, when the direct bus service from Itanagar to Changlang was announced, people in Changlang rejoiced over the fact that a cheaper and efficient alternative to expensive private bus services had now been made available to them by the government. However, with passage of time, the bus service in the district headquarters has sadly deteriorated. Initially, the APSTS provided two Traveller buses for the route six days of the week, but gradually the number of buses reduced to one. The department failed to ensure timely maintenance and repair of its vehicles, and it led to frequent cancellations of the bus service, sometimes for days.
Passengers also started to complain of delays of up to four to five hours when vehicles broke down mid-journey. People endured such poor service for years but still chose to travel by the APSTS bus, until the services stopped completely for months during the summer.
For many months since then, people have been urging the authorities to take note of their grievances, but no concrete steps have been taken so far to mitigate their problem. One of the reasons behind the pathetic situation is the fact that no officials remain at the Changlang headquarters to address the issues facing the public. Most of them stay away from their place of posting and rarely attend their office. Where will the public go to place their concerns and grievances? The department has for years miserably failed to provide a regular and efficient bus service for the people of the district headquarters, connecting them to the state capital.