BS-6 compliance mandatory for new buses on surrendered routes

Shimla, September 18: The Himachal Pradesh government has mandated that new buses plying on surrendered routes by the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) must comply with BS-6 emission norms. The move is part of a broader effort to improve the state’s public transport system while minimising the impact on the environment.

Private bus operators interested in these routes will have to run BS-6 compliant buses. However, if they have buses less than 15 years old, they will still be allowed to run those vehicles. The government has also eased operational restrictions by removing the 60:40 condition, which earlier required operators to allocate 60% of their fleet to rural routes and 40% to urban routes.

The relaxation is aimed at increasing the number of applications from private operators so that more buses are available to serve both rural and urban areas. “Private operators will have to run BS-6 buses on 168 routes surrendered by HRTC unless they have buses that are less than 15 years old,” confirmed Naresh Thakur, assistant commissioner, transport department.

The HRTC has returned several routes to the state citing operational losses, affecting 11 depots. These include 37 routes in Shimla, 9 in Rampur, 37 in Mandi, 10 in Solan, 4 in Sirmaur, 6 in Hamirpur, 10 in Bilaspur, 8 in Una, 7 in Nalagarh, 32 in Dharamshala and 8 routes of Kullu depot. These routes handed over due to financial stress will now be operated by private companies.

In response to complaints of irregularities, the transport department has sent the route list back to the HRTC and directed them to review the allocation with regional transport officers and submit a revised list. The move is expected to streamline the process and ensure transparency in route allocation.