Gurugram DM fast-tracks work on new bus stand

Kulwinder Sandhu

Gurugram July 17

As the Haryana Assembly elections draw near, the official machinery in Gurugram district has fast-tracked work on the pending development projects.

Gurugram District Magistrate Nishant Kumar Yadav inspected the land site marked for the proposed Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) in Sihi village along the Dwarka Expressway.

He asked the Revenue Department officials to prepare the map of a 15-acre land reserved for the construction of a new bus stand within the next two days. It is being built on the lines of Delhi’s ISBT on PPP model by Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) and the Transport department.

Yadav said the HSIDC has 147 acres of land for public utility in Sihi village, which falls in Sector 36A of Gurugram city. Out of this land, 15 acres will soon be transferred to the Transport Department under the PPP model for the construction of the new bus stand. He also asked the Tehsildar of Manesar Navneet Kaur also to mark another 15 acres of land on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway and Elan Mall side and ensure that its map is sent to his office by Friday.

He said both the proposals will be sent to the state government for approval. Further, progress on landscaping, architectural design and construction will begin only after the assessment and finalisation of one site from the state government.

He claimed that the new ISBT would be more people-friendly due to its proximity to the Expressway, Southern Peripheral Road, proposed global city, heliport and the Delhi-Gurgaon National Highway and Railway Station.

The General Manager of Haryana Roadways, Gurugram depot, Pradeep Ahlawat said that the cost of construction of the new bus stand would be borne by the Transport Department. Since, the land has been provided by the HSIDC, the industrial corporation will have 49 per cent share while the Transport Department will have 51 percent share in this project.

It may be mentioned that the present bus stand near Mahavir Chowk in the old city is located in one of the most congested areas of Gurugram city. The buses face long traffic jams, which often results in delay in timings of their operations. It was built sometime back in 1958 when Gurgaon was a small town developed out of a village. As the village-turned town developed into a big metropolitan city over the years, the need for a new and modern bus stand emerged with the manifold increase in population.

Though, a few years back, the Transport Department had identified a plot in Rajiv Chowk to construct the new bus stand, the proposal was rejected by the state government as it was a congested area in the vicinity of important offices, like the mini secreteriat, judicial complex, police commissioner’s office, etc.