Chandigarh residents question design of new bus queue shelters

Chandigarh, May 6

Residents have raised questions over the design of the new bus queue shelters being constructed across the city.

They said the shelters hardly protect people from rain as well as the scorching sun.

An NGO, Arrive Safe, has pointed out the ‘faulty’ design of the ramp of a shelter. Harman Singh Sidhu, president of the NGO, said the ramp at a newly constructed bus queue shelter landed into a drain rendering it useless, and many others didn’t have one.

The UT Administration had last year decided to construct 220 new bus queue shelters across the city at a cost of Rs 7.31 crore. A total of 221 (including the sample unit) bus queue shelters will be constructed under the project, of which 71 have been completed. The remaining 150 shelters will be constructed by August in a phased manner.

An official said the construction of new bus queue shelters in villages and sectors was mooted as per the requirement of the Transport Department. The Transport Department had decided to implement the grid system of public transport so as to make it more public friendly. Accordingly, the Department of Urban Planning finalised the design of the proposed new bus queue shelters in 2017.

The design of concrete structure got approved after deliberations with a sub-group of the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee in order to maintain the heritage character of the city. Accordingly, the locations of the shelters in various sectors and villages was finalised by a team of officials from the Transport Department, Department of Urban Planning and the Engineering Department. Of the existing 148 bus queue shelters in the city, 11 were found structurally unstable. The remaining 137 have been retained after refurbishment, he said.

After the approval of the committee, a sample concrete bus queue shelter was constructed on the Sector 17-18 road in 2018. The sample was approved by the committee and senior officials of the Administration.

After the approval of the sample, the proposal for construction of 220 new concrete shelters was approved and a tender was awarded for Rs 7,31,53,104 in 2022. The cost of construction of one concrete shelter is Rs 3.50 lakh having an area of 150 square feet.