NORTH LAKHIMPUR, Oct 4 � The Guwahati-North Lakhimpur bus service is in a terrible state as the operators ply vehicles which are in a shambles, causing misery to numerous passengers everyday. This is particularly evident in the day-service buses on this route.
Earlier buses plying on the North Lakhimpur-Guwahati route were in excellent condition and this gave great satisfaction to the passengers.
When the ASTC introduced Volvo service in January, 2005, North Lakhimpur was one of the first destinations of this service. The first Volvo service made its maiden journey from North Lakhimpur to Guwahati with much enthusiasm among the passengers. Many travelers from this part of Assam used the Volvo bus on its night service to catch the Rajdhani Express from Guwahati early next morning. For a brief period the Volvo service also operated in the day on this route in 2005. Later the North Lakhimpur-Guwahati route got a second Volvo bus on the same night and another one was introduced to connect Gerukamukh, the site where NHPC�s dam work over Subansiri is going on. Similarly the bus service operated by the Sylvan Dee Preronaa introduced high quality comfortable buses on this route in both day and night services.
However, since last year, service on this route was affected by shortage of buses.
The North Lakhimpur-Guwahati Volvo service has been off operation for over a year now and only the bus plying between Gerukamukh and Guwahati provides some limited seats to passengers from North Lakhimpur.
Sadly, even Volvo buses are now in a decaying state as they were in operation for over five years now.
Similarly, the day services operated by Sylvan Dee-Preronaa � with its Rajhans and Mayurpankhee fleet � has also been suspended. Even their night service buses are also in poor condition.
The four buses that now run between North Lakhimpur and Guwahati in day service are in worst condition � all are a minimum five years old. The conditions of these buses are so weak that they cannot run in high speed. Most of them are poorly maintained and are noisy with defective doors and weak engines and take almost 12 hours to complete the journey of this route.
Earlier, the maximum time needed for this journey at day time was 7 to 8 hours. But thanks to the frequent stops by these buses to pick up and drop passengers midway during the journey the time increased to 12 hours.
