New Delhi: “Usually, by 1 or 2 pm every day, three or four buses are here. Today, there’s just one,” Ankit, who runs a paan shop beside an office of Raj Kalpana Travels Pvt Ltd near Akshardham, said.In front of him was a stretch that’s usually busy with passengers getting on and off buses while grabbing a paan or cigarette and moving on. On Friday afternoon, however, the familiar bustle was missing.Less than two days ago, nine passengers died when a Raj Kalpana sleeper bus from Delhi to Mahoba caught fire on Yamuna Expressway.“Maybe, because of the incident,” Ankit said, when asked why the stretch in front of the office of the travel company appeared quieter than usual. The shutter of the office next to the shop was down. Locals said the staff had hurriedly closed the office Thursday night and left. It remained shut Friday, despite normally opening by 9 am.Suraj, another local shopkeeper, said, “I got to know about the incident from television news. There seems to be much less rush today. I think it will be the same situation for the next few days as well,” he said.A similar subdued scene was visible near Raj Kalpana’s Tis Hazari court office. There were fewer buses in front of it than usual.For drivers of these long-distance private buses, the blaze remains a talking point. Images and videos of the charred bus were circulating among their WhatsApp groups, they said. Sunil, who works at a nearby office of a travel company, said, “Our drivers have plenty of videos of the bus on fire. It is scary.” Naveed, a local shopkeeper, said he expected bus operations to remain subdued for some time.Locals said very few buses were operating Friday, while online booking platforms continued to show that seats were available on some services for Friday night and the days ahead. A driver of another private bus company said the services would continue, although some operators might avoid the usual pick-up points in Delhi.TOI dialled Raj Kalpana’s helpline and was told by sources that bus services on some routes, including those to Mahoba and Chhatarpur, had been halted, while other services were continuing. They said fire-safety checks on buses are usually undertaken, though a short circuit could have triggered the blaze in this case. The exact cause, however, is being probed by police.For now, the tragedy on the expressway appears to have dampened the mood at the offices of Delhi’s private bus operators and the usual passenger pick-up points. Raj Kalpana buses were not entirely off the roads, but on Friday, at least, the usual rush was noticeably thinner.
