Zirakpur bus stand — the elephant in the room

Tribune News Service

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, July 3

It has been nine years since the Zirakpur bus stand is lying defunct in the heart of the town. Many efforts have been made to revive it, but all have come a cropper. The PRTC, PWD, NHAI and the traffic police play the blame game, but nobody musters the courage to try to make it operational. A collective effort might bear fruit, but, as of now, no one is interested.

PRTC asked to create bus layby

We have requested PRTC officials to explore the possibility of creating a layby lane so that buses take a separate lane and pick up passengers from the terminus without obstructing the movement of vehicles on the main Chandigarh-Ambala highway or the Zirakpur-Panchkula highway. Himanshu Gupta, Dera Bassi SDM

It is an elephant in the room which nobody wants to see.

Dera Bassi SDM Himanshu Gupta has initiated steps to make the defunct bus stand functional with the help of the PRTC. Gupta recently wrote to the PRTC to explore the possibility of making it functional by making a bus layby lane for public transport buses to pick up passengers and move towards their respective destinations.

The Zirakpur bus stand near the Paras Downtown mall was rendered defunct in 2014 for a variety of reasons, including a design flaw in the terminus. The building and the approach roads conceptualised in the form of a rotary proved to be of limited use ever since its inauguration in 2014.

Dera Bassi SDM Himanshu Gupta said, “We have requested PRTC officials to explore the possibility of creating a layby lane so that passing buses take a separate lane and pick up passengers from the terminus without obstructing the movement of vehicles on the main Chandigarh-Ambala highway or the Zirakpur-Panchkula highway.”

The bus stand was designed with three entry and exit points, one each towards the Chandigarh-Ambala highway, the Chandigarh-Panchkula highway and the Zirakpur-Panchkula highway, but officials say the design exacerbates the traffic problem.

Officials said an effort was being made to make maximum possible use of the facility for the benefit of public.

After the inauguration of the two-storey bus stand in 2014 by the then Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the structure, built at a cost of Rs 5.5 crore, has acquired the status of a white elephant in the middle of the road.

Reasons for disuse

• The bus stand near the Paras Downtown mall was rendered defunct for a variety of reasons, including a design flaw.
• The building and the approach roads conceptualised in the form of a rotary proved to be of limited use ever since its inauguration in 2014.
• The bus stand was designed with three entry and exit points, one each towards the Chandigarh-Ambala highway, the Chandigarh-Panchkula highway and the Zirakpur-Panchkula highway, but officials say the design exacerbates the traffic problem.

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