Altogether 59 city buses out to total 70 procured in 2010 by state Urban Development Department under the City Mission project of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission are lying grounded even as the coal town witnesses perennial traffic jam after the pandemic due to the lack of public transport system.

Notably at present only 11 city buses are operational in Dhanbad out of which 10 are operating in Dhanbad-Katras route while a single one is being operated in Sindri-Baliapur-Dhanbad route.

Soon after the launch of the city bus service in Dhanbad by Urban Development Department, a lot of issues like repeated strikes by drivers and conductors, poor maintenance leading to technical snags appearing in the buses, expiry of permit, non-allotment of designated stoppages of buses leading to regular dispute with traffic policemen etc created obstruction in smooth operation of buses.

Withdrawal of JSTDC from the operation of city buses in October 14, 2014 however led to further deterioration of situation as despite various attempts of DMC to operate buses with the private operators on contract basis the operation of full fleet of 70 buses bore no fruit due to various reasons, including majority of buses turning non-functional.

Expressing disgust over the situation, Dipak Kumar Deepu, President of Sindri Chamber of Commerce said, “The traffic situation of the district has again gone for a toss after the reopening of all offices, factories, schools and colleges following the improvement of the Covid situation. It could have been streamlined to a great extent, had the public transport system shifted to bus mode”

“With the broadening of almost all roads of Dhanbad, the bus operation could have been hassle-free as due to lack of regular city bus service people have no option other than to travel in auto rickshaw which is costly,” said Dipu.

Echoing sentiments, a resident of Mugma in Dhanbad said, “Earlier five to six buses used to operate between the Dhanbad to Chirkunda providing an alternative to the residents travelling from Nirsa, Maithon, Mugma and Chirkunda to Dhanbad who were dependent on local passenger trains but after the suspension of bus service since 2014 we have no option other than trains.”

Uday Kachhap, in charge of transport service of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation said “We are operating altogether 11 buses and there is no immediate plan to increase the number buses though we have long term plan to increase the number of buses.”