State govt departments unlikely to complete BRTS by March 31 deadline

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 22

Government departments engaged in civil works for the under-construction Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS), also known as the Metro Bus Service Project, are not likely to complete it by March 31, as demanded by Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi and PS Aujala, Principal Secretary to Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Sources stated that civil work between 55 per cent and 60 per cent is over by now. It would take at least five to six months more to finish it. With a total length of 30.73 km, the project is aimed at reducing the traffic mess and bottlenecks in the city. The Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) outsourced the construction work for the BRTS to a private concern while the PWD (B&R) Department has been made the executing agency.

They said it involved the gigantic task of raising about five-km elevated corridors on the Albert road, the Bhandari Bridge Loop, the Bhandari Bridge roundabout to the Daburji bypass, the Central Core Hussainpura Chowk to Celebration Mall to Kitchlu Chowk to the Albert Road Junction, the SSSS Chowk to Crystal Chowk, Celebration Mall to NH Bypass, NH Bypass to Verka Canal and ROB at Verka.

The majority of the work for constructing elevated roads in the middle of these roads has already been finished on the GT road, the Batala road and other roads.

According to the design, 2.5 metre-wide columns will be erected in the middle of these roads. An elevated road will be raised on these columns to operate buses. Beneath it, there will be be motor-vehicle roads on either side of these columns. Besides, interlocking paver and footpath will be constructed on both sides of the road.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal laid the foundation stone of the Rs 580-crore ambitious project on February 26.

The ambitious project envisages to provide a complete and ultimate mobility solution to commuters with dedicated runway lanes for high-class buses for rapid transit of commuters besides setting up of adequate bus shelters.

A resident of Guru Nanak Pura on the GT road, Chander Mohan, said the slow pace of the construction work was posing a serious threat to the lives of commuters. At times, the workers engaged in the project left behind piles of gravel, sand and other construction material in the middle of the road. Heaps of such material had contributed to accidents many a time and were accident-prone during the night.