The bustling bus stand in Ludhiana came to a halt as more than 250 government and over 400 private buses suspended their services in connection to the Bharat Bandh, leaving passengers stranded, on Friday.
Officials at the bus stand disclosed that the decision to halt operations came as protests and road closures spread across districts, forcing the majority of buses to retreat. The situation worsened with trade unions staging demonstrations at the bus stand, adding to the chaos.
Stranded passenger Jagjit Singh expressed frustration, citing an urgent need to travel to Ferozepur to meet departing relatives scheduled to go abroad the next day. However, upon reaching the bus stand, he found no buses operational due to the Bharat Bandh.
Another affected traveller, Jasmehar Chugh, had to cancel his flight from Chandigarh due to the unavailability of buses to reach the airport.
Ranjit Bagga, Punjab Roadways’ general manager, reported despite dispatching four buses to multiple destinations such as Raikot, Ferozepur, Bathinda, and Jalandhar, all were forced to return due to road closures outside the district. Neither private nor public buses could operate on any routes.
Officials assured the public that bus services would resume as usual, with operations expected to return to normal across all routes and schedules, on Saturday.
