Director (Transport), UT, P S Shergill said bus service has been started after a meeting between the Transport Secretary, Punjab, D S Jaspal and UT Secretary (Transport) Krishna Mohan today.

“In principle, it has been agreed that the CTU would pay as per the old tax rate. After an agreement, the CTU buses plied in the state on all the routes,” an official said.

Since January 1, the CTU buses plying to Mohali and its nearby areas, including most of the villages, stopped its services. The stalemate between the two states began after Punjab issued a notification in November last year to charge Rs 5 per kilometres from the CTU buses as road tax for plying in their territory. Earlier, the rate was Rs 2.65 per kilometre.

The UT officials resented the move saying they were to pay Rs 5 per kilometre, while in other states where the Punjab has an inter-state agreement pay Rs 3.7 per km, Rs 2.25 per km from the state undertakings and only 50 paise per km from the AC bus operators.