Year on, project report of modern bus stand at Faridabad awaits nod

Bijendra Ahlawat

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Faridabad, April 3

The detailed project report (DPR) of the first international-level bus stand worth about Rs 1,000 crore, which was submitted in April last year, is still in files as approval from the state government is awaited, according to sources in the Transport Department.

The project aims to replace the existing General Bus Stand here and is to come up under private-public partnership (PPP) mode.

It had been announced that a world-class bus terminus with state-of-the-art facilities for passengers, who will be able to avail the interstate transport facilities, will come up here.

It is claimed that the construction work has been awarded to the State Police Housing Corporation, a wing of the Haryana Police.

It is revealed that being a mega project, it will be carried out in four phases spread over four years. According to the DPR, the budget estimate for the first phase of the project is Rs 200 crore.

This international-level terminus is proposed to have all the facilities like air-conditioned waiting rooms, washrooms, food court, shopping mall and ATM facility besides online and offline ticket booking facility.

The project will usher in a new era in the transport sector in the state, said an official of the Transport Department.

He said that the new terminus would be located on 25 acres owned by the department here and it would be the second bus stand in the state that would be built on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

The first bus stand under BOT basis, worth about Rs 140 crore, has already been made functional in the NIT zone here.

Though the project was announced two years ago, the Haryana Roadways Workers Union has opposed it and described it as part of the privatisation policy of the government and an attempt to dispose of government properties in the garb of PPP mode.

Ramashray Prasad Yadav, president of the district unit of the Haryana Roadways Workers Union, said that instead of increasing the number of buses and staff in the Roadways Department, the government was focusing on privatisation,which, he said, was wrong and an anti-people move.

The DPR of the project has been under the consideration of the state government and is likely to be approved soon, said an official of the Transport Department.

Technical issues behind delay

The involvement of a huge budget, technical issues related to the project and various aspects under the PPP mode have been under discussion at the headquarters level. Moreover, major projects (above Rs 100 crore) needs approval from the CM Office, according to officials of the department