After 7 decades, bus finally reaches Uttarakhand village

Pithoragarh: Ganura village in Uttarakhand has finally got its first bus -- after a wait of over 70 years. When the green-coloured bus reached the remote cluster in Pithoragarh district on Thursday, the mood there was like that of a festival. Residents, old and young, thronged to catch a glimpse of the vehicle. Such was the eagerness to welcome the bus that some of them even brought lamps and performed an ‘aarti’ in front of the vehicle.
Beaming with joy, Keedi Devi, one of the oldest residents of the village and the first to perform the puja, said, “Today is a happy day. Our village will see better times now. It will be easier for our children to go to schools and colleges.”
Even though the village, with a population of 1400, is only 26 km from the tehsil headquarters, local residents have to walk a distance of 10 km to reach the nearest road from where transport facilities are available.
Talking to TOI, Reena Negi, assistant engineer, PWD, said, “A 12-km road to the village was constructed in four years under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The cost of the project was Rs 4 crore. A trial run of the bus from Dhanari to Ganura was conducted on Thursday.”
Another villager, Ganga Singh, said that they have been facing a lot of difficulties due to the lack of road transport facilities in the area. He added that many a time they were forced to carry patients on their shoulders for to take them to the nearest medical facility. Some of them, Singh, said, even succumbed on the way.
With the new bus service, villagers like Keedi Devi and Ganga Singh hope that the road ahead would be less bumpy than old times.