Bullock carts ferry tourists for few kms till Ajanta caves as buses dont ply due to MSRTC strike
Aurangabad Oct 28 PTI Several tourists had to cover the distance of around four kilometers to reach the world famous Ajanta caves near here by sitting in bullock carts instead of buses on Thursday as the state transport employees went on a strike in the morning an official said Some of the tourists even preferred to walk this four-km distance between the parking bay near the caves till the ticket window he said Tourists visiting the Ajanta caves couldnt take the regular state transport buses between the parking facility and the caves as the service remained shut due to the strike of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC employees The closure of the ferry bus service also impacted the footfall of tourists to the caves a senior official of the world heritage sites office said Nearly 100 tourists visited the Ajanta caves and this number was lower than usual he said When local villagers came to know about the state transport employees strike they brought their bullock carts to the parking lot to serve the tourists Nearly five-six such carts ferried the tourists through the day Many of them even walked from the parking lot to the caves the official added The Ajanta cave complex is located nearly 100 km away from Aurangabad city MSRTC employees went on a spontaneous agitation in the morning over their various demands including DA merger with salary The bus operations at several depots of the state-run transport undertaking including at Mumbai Central where the MSRTCs headquarters is located were stopped in support of the agitation officials said The MSRTC is one of the biggest public transport corporations in the county with a fleet of more than 16000 buses and around 93000 employees including drivers and conductors Before the pandemic around 65 lakh passengers used to travel in the MSRTC buses everyday PTI AW NP NP
Aurangabad Oct 28 PTI Several tourists had to cover the distance of around four kilometers to reach the world famous Ajanta caves near here by sitting in bullock carts instead of buses on Thursday as the state transport employees went on a strike in the morning an official said Some of the tourists even preferred to walk this four-km distance between the parking bay near the caves till the ticket window he said Tourists visiting the Ajanta caves couldnt take the regular state transport buses between the parking facility and the caves as the service remained shut due to the strike of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC employees The closure of the ferry bus service also impacted the footfall of tourists to the caves a senior official of the world heritage sites office said Nearly 100 tourists visited the Ajanta caves and this number was lower than usual he said When local villagers came to know about the state transport employees strike they brought their bullock carts to the parking lot to serve the tourists Nearly five-six such carts ferried the tourists through the day Many of them even walked from the parking lot to the caves the official added The Ajanta cave complex is located nearly 100 km away from Aurangabad city MSRTC employees went on a spontaneous agitation in the morning over their various demands including DA merger with salary The bus operations at several depots of the state-run transport undertaking including at Mumbai Central where the MSRTCs headquarters is located were stopped in support of the agitation officials said The MSRTC is one of the biggest public transport corporations in the county with a fleet of more than 16000 buses and around 93000 employees including drivers and conductors Before the pandemic around 65 lakh passengers used to travel in the MSRTC buses everyday PTI AW NP NP
