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| December 21, 2005 | Wednesday | Ziqa’ad 18, 1426 |
Regular service from first week of January: Lahore-Amritsar bus
LAHORE, Dec 20: Pakistan and India are believed to have agreed to launch the regular Lahore-Amritsar bus service from the first week of the next month. The decision, sources privy to the talks between Pakistani and Indian officials that began here on Tuesday to launch the Lahore-Amritsar and Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus services, said that Jan 6 was tentatively fixed for launching the much-awaited bus service between the two countries.
However, Roads and Transport director Shahid Iqbal said no date had been finalized to run the Lahore-Amritsar bus service so far.
He said the Pakistani and Indian officials would hold a second round of talks on Wednesday (today) and then issue a joint statement carrying all decisions about the regular Lahore-Amritsar and Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus services.
A nine-member Indian delegation led by surface and transport secretary S.R.Das had arrived here on Tuesday following a change in the venue for talks, which were earlier scheduled at Islamabad.
The Indian delegation also included Indian Punjab transport secretary A.R.Talwar as well as officials from the Indian High Commission and Foreign Office.
The Pakistani delegation was led by communication ministry’s additional secretary Muhammad Abbas. It also included Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) finance director Mukhtar Ali Malik, foreign office representative Tariq Zameer and interior ministry’s Ms Suhaila Mushtaq.
It may be mentioned that both India and Pakistan had already operated test-runs of Lahore-Amritsar bus on Dec 11 and 13, respectively, to inspect the international route, terminal facilities as well as stay facilities for the bus crew.
As per test-run of the bus, the total distance between Lahore and Amritsar bus terminals was around 65 kilometers.
It may also be mentioned that PTDC managing director Hashim Khan had earlier stated that the bus fare from Lahore-Amritsar would be Rs900 and Amritsar-Lahore Rs700. Owing to currency exchange, he said, the fare value was equal and no profit was involved in the Lahore-Amritsar bus service. He said the fare had been fixed on a no-profit basis with an assumption that each bus would go to Amritsar packed to its capacity. “Whenever, the bus would go with vacant seats, it will cause loss to the PTDC,” he had said.
It may be mentioned that the Lahore-Amritsar service would be the third bus service between India and Pakistan following Lahore-Delhi and Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus services.
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