COMMUNICATIONS

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

The State Transport Undertaking has been catering to the needs of passenger traffic on an increasing scale. The undertaking is owned and managed by the Government of Maharashtra as a public utility concern run on commercial lines. The parent body, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, is a statutory public corporation.

State Transport.

Before nationalisation, passenger traffic was run by private carriage operators. The passengers were subject to hardships and they were generally neglected.

Being wedded to the socialistic pattern of society and the establishment of a welfare State, Government could hardly overlook this state of affairs which brought untold sufferings to the people. With a view to improving the conditions of the travelling public, the State Government decided to nationalise passenger traffic.

Nationalisation of passenger transport in Wardha district which now forms part of the Nagpur Division of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, was started in 1946. The services which were initially run by the Central Provinces Transport Services, were subsequently purchased by the State Government in 1955, and renamed as the Provincial Transport Services, Nagpur. After the reorganization of the States in November 1956, the operations were looked after by a separate department under the erstwhile Government of Bombay, called the Transferred Road Transport Undertakings Department. With effect from 1st July 1961, the Transferred Road Transport Undertakings Department was abolished and the Provincial Transport Services, Nagpur, alongwith the State Transport Services in the Marathwada region, were amalgamated with the Bombay State Road Transport Corporation, and the reorganised Corporation was named as the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.

The operations in the Wardha district were first started in 1946 with ten routes viz. Wardha-Nagpur, Nagpur-Hinganghat, Wardha-Chandrapur, Hinganghat-Warora, Wardha-Sindi, Wardha-Deoli, Hin-ganghat-Samudrapur, Warora-Wani, Wardha-Waigaon and Wardha-Hinganghat, which were operated from depots outside Wardha district. The route length of these routes was 503.2 km. The first depot in the district was started at Talegaon on 1st January 1958 with 12 vehicles.

By the end of December 1965, 16 vehicles were attached to Talegaon depot operating on 4 routes with a total route length of 138.5 kilometres. Details of the routes, number of trips operated and the number of passengers travelled per day on each route are given in the following statement.

Besides the routes emanating from Talegaon depot, there were 23 routes emanating from depots outside the district but serving the needs of Wardha district. The details are given in the following statement.

For the convenience of the travelling public in the district permanent bus stations have been constructed at Hinganghat and Talegaon, and temporary bus stations have been constructed at Wardha, Jam and Ashti. In addition to these amenities, there are 4 refreshment rooms, 4 betel-nut stalls, one fruit-stall and one book-stall in the district.

The Corporation also provides welfare facilities to its employees. A dispensary and a rest room is also provided at Talegaon.

The private operators run bus services on Allipur—Sonegaon and Waigaon-Kangaon routes in the district.

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