New Mohali ISBT has everything but buses

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, May 22

The new Baba Banda Singh Bahadur bus stand at Phase VI was inaugurated with much fanfare, but seeing the fall in the number of buses there, its future seems uncertain.

It is learnt that ever since the restoration of bus services at the old bus stand in Phase VIII, the number of buses coming to the new bus stand has fallen by 40 per cent.

“Till the first week of March this year, the number of buses was 650 and now it is 375,” said Col CVS Sehgal (retd), chief general manager of C&C Construction Limited.

Sehgal added that in the agreement between the company and the Punjab Government departments, including GMADA and the Transport, it was stated that more than 1,900 buses would come to the bus stand in a day.

The Mohali Deputy Commissioner had notified the new bus stand on December 14 last year and it was inaugurated by Sukhbir Singh Badal on December 16. “The number of the buses coming to the bus stand was okay till the first week of March, but after that it witnessed a fall,” claimed Sehgal.

At present, the fully air-conditioned bus stand, having facilities, such as glass lifts, escalators, clean washrooms, drinking water facility and good seating arrangement, has a footfall of around 300 persons.

“Why should passengers come here when there are not enough buses,” said Satpal Singh, a commuter.

Many buses didn’t even halt at the bus stand, said another passenger. “Long-route buses do not stop for those wanting to alight at local stops,” said Jaskaran Singh and Navdeep Singh, students who come to Mohali from Ropar every day. “We have to wait for hours as there are no buses,” they said.

The bus stand sees three to four private buses coming from Patiala. On the other hand, the old bus stan witnesses around 600 buses every day.

“Most buses do not halt at the new ISBT. Even the ones picking up passengers from the bus queue shelter in front of Max Hospital at Phase VI rarely come to the new ISBT,” said the chief general manager.

Except a shop at the ground floor, all other shops are yet to be occupied.Officials of the private company said they had approached the authorities concerned to increase the number of buses at the bus stand, but to no avail.

Bus stand to have multiplexes, offices 

Under the project, the bus stand will have 10-screen multiplexes, offices, two new multi-storeyed towers (13 and 18 floors), a five-star 130-room hotel, a banquet hall, markets and a helipad.

'Both bus stands should be run efficiently'

The facilities are good, but the number of buses is less. The authorities should look into the matter. —Jaskaran Singh 

The new ISBT has best of facilities, but what is the use of spending so much when passengers are not getting buses from here. —Navdeep Singh

The restoration of services at the old bus stand is a good idea as it caters to hundreds of residents living in the southern part of the town. Nobody is against the idea of having two bus stands. —Inderpreet Kaur