In a bid to meet Government’s goal to make Jharkhand a tourist hub, the Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC) has planned to enhance road connectivity between a number of religious and other tourist destinations and capital Ranchi. Under this, a plan to operate Volvo buses to at least five destinations from Ranchi is underway. A senior official of JTDC said that the Tourism Department is also working on a booking website of its own to make tourism and pilgrim an adventure.
JTDC Managing Director (MD) Prasad Krishna Waghmare said that operating Volvo buses to Varanasi, Jamshedpur, Puri, Kolkata and Patna from Ranchi is being planned in first phase. “The process of empanelling operators for this is underway. We expect the process of finalizing operators to be completed most probably in a fortnight. I strongly hope that Volvo services to these destinations will commence in a month from now,” said Baghmare. He said that the fare on all these routes will be decided by JTDC in consultation with operators with a review rider in every six month.
JTDC has also initiated process of operating Volvo and non-AC buses to intrastate destinations. Under this, Nerarhat, Betla, Rajrappa, Devghar, Parasnath, Basukinath, Maluti and Tarapeeth from Ranchi is expected to start soon. At the same time, non-AC and Volvo buses will also be operated between Dumka and Parasnath, Rajrappa and Itkhori.
“Most of these destinations already have bus services. But we are trying to focus more on tourism now and these buses would be operated keeping requirements of tourists in mind,” said Waghmare. He said that the demand for luxury buses on these routes was increasing since some time.
In a time when consumers want every product and services just on a click, Tourism Department also doesn’t want to lag behind and is planning to have a dedicated ticket booking portal soon. “This website will have facilities like other tour services providing websites. Though it is just at planning stage at this time, but it will also be operational soon,” said Waghmare.
Though the JTDC is trying its best to provide better services to passengers preferring roadways for short distances like Ranchi and Jamshedpur, the safety, security and other issues related to passengers available on the way tell a different story. Passengers have long been demanding halts at intervals, which are not being provided these days due to a number of issues on certain routes. “Though this is something which operators and Road Transport Departments will have to decide. However, we are trying to make the services to come the best,” said Waghmare.