Himachal Roadways to dump 600 buses

Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation (HRTC) will retire a third of its buses as it is unsafe to travel in them because they have travelled beyond the permissible limit of over 600,000 km, officials say.

These old buses are currently plying on unpaved winding mountain roads in the villages where they are more prone to accidents.

"We will start auctioning of the first batch of 80 buses next month and the entire process will continue for the next few months until all the old buses are phased out," said Rajiv Gupta, general manager of HRTC.

The state roadways has a fleet of some 1,710 buses which run within and outside the state to several cities in northern India including New Delhi. Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister GS Bali had recently said the old buses would be replaced by latest buses.