Nagpur: Commuters in Nagpur are likely to face hardships on April 18 and 19 as Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will rent out approximately 400 of their fleet of buses for election related work across Nagpur city limits. NMC may operate Aapli bus service only on longer routes like Kamptee to Butibori, Pardi to Hingna, Wadi etc. The bus services would possibly resume partially from April 20.
The District Election Office has booked 358 buses to ferry the thousands of polling personnel for the Lok Sabha election. Additionally, it has also requested the NMC to keep additional buses ready on standby to ensure no obstruction in transporting and ferrying EVMs and polling staff.
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Wednesday 12 March 2025
According to a senior official from NMC’s Transport Department, about 358 buses will be required to carry the staff and security personnel to polling stations in each constituency on both days. NMC will have to keep around 45 Aapli buses on standby to make arrangements for emergency situations, including breakdowns of any buses engaged in poll duties.
As per the allotment by NMC, 72 buses will be deployed for the South-West constituency. Similarly, 62 for the South, 57 for the East, 54 for the Central, 41 for the West, and 72 buses for the North Nagpur Assembly constituencies. NMC will charge Rs13,000 per day per bus.
At present, NMC, through six bus operators including three red bus operators, plies approximately 423 buses. All the operators have been instructed to ensure the buses are fit for plying and that the headlights, tail lamps, indicators, horns, wipers etc are functioning.
In view of the poll demand, NMC may terminate shorter run city bus operations from April 18 noon onwards. The reporting time for buses to reach the six EVM centres across the city is around 10 am.
NMC officials said bus requisition was standard practice during every election. They acknowledged that bus services would be affected but hoped the impact would be minimal because of low demand.
Traffic restrictions:
Traffic Branch of Nagpur Police has prohibited vehicular traffic on the roads leading to the centres from where the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and other material would be distributed to the polling staff for Lok Sabha election from 7 am on April 18. After the distribution is over, the roads would be open for all sorts of vehicles. Similarly, vehicular traffic would be prohibited on the roads leading to these centres when the EVMs would be deposited after the polling at 6 pm on April 19.
For Nagpur South West, the centre for distribution of EVMs would be Kurve’s New Model High School. Vehicles coming from Kriplani Square towards Mata Kacheri would be diverted from Ajni Square and Janata Chowk. Vehicles coming towards EVMs distribution centre (South Nagpur) at Bachat Bhavan, near Hotel Hardeo, Sitabuldi, would be diverted towards Shani Mandir and Dhantoli Bridge.
Vehicles coming from Tukdoji Statue towards EVMs distribution centre (East Nagpur) at Ishwar Deshmukh Physical Education College would be diverted via Ajni, Manewada and Tajbag. Vehicles coming towards EVM distribution centre (Central Nagpur) at Zilla Parishad Girls School, Katol Road, would be diverted from Chhaoni Y-point, Nelson Square and Raj Nagar T-point. Vehicles coming towards the distribution centre (North Nagpur) at St Ursula High School would be diverted from VCA Square, Akashwani Square, Kannamwar Chowk and GPO.
Vehicles coming towards the distribution centre (West Nagpur) at SFS College, Seminary Hills, would be diverted via Raj Bhavan Rear Gate Square and TV Tower Square. The road connecting the distribution centre (Kamptee) at Tehsil Office, Hingna, would be closed for all sorts of vehicles. Vehicles would be diverted from Mondha turning and Shivaji Chowk.
