GUWAHATI, April 25 - Some 4,992 passengers boarded 320 buses in eighteen districts and were bound for various destinations on the first day of the three-day conditional relaxation allowed by the Assam government for intra-state movement amid lockdown.
ASTC managing director Anand Prakash Tiwari, who is overseeing the exercise, said the total number of registered applicants through the helpline number 104 for inter-district transfer is 41,651. Lines were closed at midnight of April 23.
�Today we were able to send 4,992 passengers in 320 buses. Tomorrow we will send 12,000,� he said, adding that the maximum number of passengers � 1,667 �boarded buses in Guwahati for various destinations.
An initial text message was already sent to all applicants that their request has been accepted and they were requested to wait for the next message containing the bus and travel details.
Boarding passes were issued on registered mobile number with details of boarding point, name of passenger, date of journey, bus number, seat number, etc. The text or SMS pass is mandatory along with ID proof of passenger for boarding.
Four boarding points have been fixed in Guwahati � ISBT, Adabari, Machkhowa and Paltanbazar. For other districts, ASTC bus stands are single boarding points. In Guwahati city, 30 ASTC city buses and 200 Uber/Ola cabs were used for movement of passengers within the city.
People who have registered for the inter-district movement will receive the boarding pass on their mobile number a day prior to journey. Altogether 2,500 buses are going to be utilised for the inter-district transportation on the three days, and if required, it may be extended beyond three days.
Medical screening of passengers was arranged by district administration before they boarded the buses. Sanitisation of bus, use of mask and sanitizer, and social distancing were ensured by local authorities.
From 12 noon today, five helpline numbers were activated for all those people who have already registered their request on 104 or filled up the link provided by the government. For any query, people may call at tollfree number 18003453986 and WhatsApp numbers 6026901061, 6026901062, 6026901063, 6026901064 and 6026901065.
For those owning private vehicles, the respective deputy commissioners had already issued passes for travelling today. Over 12,000 vehicle passes were issued for today.
