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Open letter to Himachal’s transport Minister GS Bali from an angry passenger
Dear Mr Bali Sir,
I am writing to you for the purpose of raising a public grievance around the shabby and pathetic condition of the HRTC TATA A/C buses plying on the Delhi Shimla route.
I have already tried contacting the concerned authorities via various social forums and your department’s so called helpline and complaints & grievance number +91-94180-00529 but to no avail.
To say the least, the conditions of these buses are deplorable and appalling. It seems that it has been ages since these buses have seen the sight of a workshop or mechanics. The omnipotent “JUGAAD” used by HRTC to fix issues at the cost of public exchequer are visible for all to see as soon as you enter an HRTC bus.
To eke out profit margins and in the name of on-time schedule, the buses have become a rotten hole and passengers are being duped of lakhs of rupees in the name of additional comfort of which they have no other solution/ back up plan.
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Since, the summer months have arrived, and the holiday season would soon be at its peak, the least we can do is to ensure that some repairs are carried out on these buses so that they become fit for plying again and do not bring about shame to the state government and all us folks alike. It really is a shameful manifestation when people travelling from outside the state talk ill about the condition of state’s functioning and finances. While on the other hand, Himachal is promoted as the number one hilly state in the country.
To give you a brief background, my plight started when I booked onto a TATA A/C bus plying on the Delhi Shimla route on 3rd May, 2015. The bus smelt of a pungent odour and many of the seats were torn to the smithereens. (Pictures enclosed alongside)
The real trouble started when the air conditioning was turned on. To everyone’s utter dismay, the air con vents were missing /broken and these had been smartly (pun intended) replaced by used plastic tea cups and polythene bags. (Mind you, polythene is banned in Himachal)
To make matters worse, the HRTC staff had no ideas about the air con temperature controls and the air conditioner was running at its maximum power. So much so that the driver had to shut it off when some fellow passengers complained about it being too cold for their liking. Once the air con was shut off, it became a much more harrowing experience, since there was no scope for ventilation and people had to ask him to start the air flow again.
Somehow, everyone adjusted to this but the real shocker came after the bus had traveled to the plains of Haryana and Punjab. The bus driver suddenly had an out of the realm supernatural inhibition of being the next Michael Schumacher and he constantly broke the maximum speed limits set for vehicles of this class on the NH1.
Furthermore, he was driving too dangerously to be called sane and safe. Twice was the bus on the verge of toppling over, since the driver thought of overtaking some slow moving traffic when road works were being carried out on some flyovers in Haryana.
I have enclosed a few pictures alongside for your perusal and viewing. Hopefully, you would somehow wake up from your slumber and mobilize resources within HRTC to take action on this to save the face of the department and the state.
Hoping for some fruitful action to be taken against all involved (which may or may not include you as well).
Thanks in advance
A responsible citizen who cares for Himachal and HRTC alike
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Himachal Watcher.
Shimla-In yet another instance, two private bus operators in Shimla city were seen creating a nuisance for the public by jamming the traffic. A reader clicked some pictures at the BCS bust stop in Shimla city on February 19, 2022, at about 8 PM and shared them with us. The reader alleged that two private bus operators, namely ‘Komal’ and ‘Chadda’, indulged in a verbal spat, most probably over their schedule. While the drivers argued, one of the buses remained parked in the middle of the road, choking the traffic. The staff of these two buses indulged in a verbal spat for about 5-10 minutes during which the general public faced a huge inconvenience. The reader has requested the Traffic Police Shimla to take action against such operators and discourage them from adopting such a bullying attitude that they don’t even hesitate to block the entire road.
Write and Publish Blog on HW
If you have relevant issues/complains that you want the people and the government to see and read about, you can publish blogs on Himachal Watcher. Send us your blogs with pictures/videos at editor [at] himachalwatcher [dot]com
Language: Hindi and English
Note For Multimedia Files: If you have high resolution images/videos (taken with smartphone/camera), then send us the originals through Google Drive or We Transfer or any other file sharing applications that suits you.
Sundernagar-Many people visit the Sundernagar lake in Mandi district and litter along the road. Winds carry all those packets and plastic bottles into the lake. This practice of littering is unlawful because it costs millions in clean-up projects. It portrays a bad picture of an area. Littering is a huge threat to the aquatic life too. In my view, the solution is awareness, responsibility, sensibility and concern for nature. We as a society need to play a big role. At least, dustbins should be installed along the lake. Otherwise, the negligence in the present will affect us in near future.
-Blog and Picture By Divya Acharya, Sundernagar
Write and Publish Blog on HW
If you have relevant issues/complains that you want the people and the government to see and read about, you can publish blogs on Himachal Watcher. Send us your blogs with pictures/videos at editor [at] himachalwatcher [dot]com
Language: Hindi and English
Note For Multimedia Files: If you have high resolution images/videos (taken with smartphone/camera), then send us the originals through Google Drive or We Transfer or any other file sharing applications that suits you.
Shimla-A youth from a small town of the Mandi district – Sarkaghat- started as a freelancer and went on to launch his own start-up in 2014. By 2021, the start-up grew into a company that has garnered international clients and also designed and developed websites and web apps for several Departments of the Himachal Pradesh Government.
Netgen IT Solutions Pvt Ltd- a young agile company- has, so far, developed websites for the Department of Information Technology, Women & Child Development, Rope & Rapid Transport Development Corporation, HP Milk Federation Cooperation, and the HP AIDS Control Society.
Besides, it also developed HimSuraksha Abhiyan App (National Health Mission) and the website of the Department of Tourism & Civil Aviation along with a Services Portal.
Further, the website of the Department of Information & Public Relations and the single window system was also developed by NetGen.
Having developed over 2500 websites, Netgen IT Solutions has an imprint of having worked for clients spread over 25 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.
Bootstrapped as a Start-Up on 7th July 2014, the company has evolved to offer a diverse set of services for web, e-commerce and mobile solutions that have enabled Global and Indian business to adapt to a Digital First environment. In seven years, this Shimla-based company has carved out a niche for itself.
The company started with a small team of just four people, and today it employs strong-heeled 25 IT professionals. The skillset of web developers, designers, networking specialists, social media marketers and others is expanding with the growth of the company.
To mark the NetGen Foundation Day, the company hosted a live inter-action of the team members with some clients to understand the need for future technologies and solutions for a fast-changing business environment in the shadow COVID pandemic.
Mr Rajneesh Rana, Founder and Managing Director of the company, is a computer science graduate. Speaking about the company’s journey, Rana’s says, “Stepping out from working as a freelancer at the small township of Sarkhaghat, in Himachal Pradesh, to launching a start-up company, was my first step in entrepreneurship. The company was founded on a shoe-string budget with a small capital outlay. After overcoming the initial hesitancy, we’re on the firmer ground today.”
With the growth in demand for IT Services, the company in the initial year faced manpower shortages. The management took to train and equip freshers in a mentorship program to meet its needs for IT Professionals and also to equip others to find gainful employment elsewhere. Netgen till date has trained over 50 freshers with essential and advanced IT skills. Most of them for the first time in their careers got exposure to the IT Industry.
The company’s IT Technical Team today is professionally equipped to work in 20+ technologies that can be deployed across a vast network of industries.
The Netgen team of IT professionals has expanded the services that the company now provides. A multitude of projects employing creative website design-development; customised software products; e-Commerce solutions; server administration – web security – networking services; mobile application design – development; social media marketing; stand completed.
“There is a growing demand for many other IT and IT-enabled services that the company has successfully delivered for Global and Indian clients,” said Rajneesh.
“Since the breakout of the COVID pandemic, the demand for online services has increased. It created an environment that demands moving things onto digital platform, bringing more opportunities for the IT sector ,” added Rajneesh.
“Take the case of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, India. To secure baseline health data of the over 70 lakh residents in the state and to prepare effective strategies for countering the spread of the pandemic in challenging hilly terrain, the state government needed a simple but effective IT-enabled solution to capture the data as fast as possible,” he said.
“The ‘Him Suraksha Abhiyan’ application designed and developed by NetGen IT Solutions was used by thousands of teams spread under 2300+ sub-centres. In just over a month, the software solution created successfully captured the data of over 68 lakh residents of Himachal Pradesh,” he added.
The 70:30 Percent (%) Global – Domestic revenue stream of Netgen has prepared the company to expand both its export and domestic service portfolios, said Rajneesh.
Mr Ravinder Makhaik, Director of the company says, “growing steadily, Netgen is a debt-free, profit-making company. A healthy mix of domestic and international businesses, with sound financials, gives the company strength to take up more challenging projects. Our portfolio of government projects is making good progress.”
Founded as a 1 lakh authorized capital company and with annual revenues rising at a 25 % compounded annual growth rate, the Netgen Board of Directors has decided to expand the authorized capital of the company to Rs 10 lakh to meet future growth needs.
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