Air Conditioned Bus Stand Project Frozen In Time

Confirmed 8 years back, the proposal to move the jam-packed inter-state bus stand here has not moved an inch, with the enforcing firm having long desolated it.

In the year 2005, when Captain Amarinder Singh was chief minister, a proposal was made to relieve traffic overcrowding and create better facilities for travelers by shifting the bus stand a kilometre from the current place on the Rajpura road.

In its preceding period of the Akali administration, deputy CM Sukhbir Badal laid the cornerstone of the multi-floor plan on February 18, 2009.

The scheme was to pass over in 18 months. The Delhi firm, which was to build up the AC bus stand on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis paid up the first lot of money of Rs. 27 crore to Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) as rent money for a period of 20 years. Each year, it was to make a payment of Rs. 1.25 crore as charge to the PRTC with 5% augmentation.

The bus stand valued around Rs. 350 crore was to consist of a hotel. The Delhi firm failed to start the project on the dot agree to in the contract, even though the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation had given it the ownership of the land. The contract lost its legality when the firm failed to react, and the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation moved the Punjab and Haryana high court to withdraw the land’s control.

“The PRTC won the case in court,” stated PRTC managing director DPS Kharbanda. “The company was penalised for violating rules. The case is also pending with the Punjab Infrastructure Regulatory Authority (PIRA).”

The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation will forward the high-court verdicts to PIRA and expect to settle things to be capable of inviting fresh tenders.

Even shifting the bus stand won’t resolve the congestion trouble, as the novel bus is only a kilometre off the current site, and in no way situated strategically.