Patiala's new bus stand to be ready by March-end

Patiala, November 13

Hit by a shortage of labour, the construction work of the city’s new bus stand is expected to extend till March 2023. Officials at the Public Works Department (PwD) said various bottlenecks in regard to receipt of funds from Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) have now been cleared.

The total expenditure of the project, aimed at decongesting city roads by rendering them free from plying of inter-city and inter-state buses, is Rs 60.97 crore.

The project was aimed to be completed by April, but it was delayed due to various reasons such as the impact of the pandemic, additional construction work of an elevated road (overbridge) near the bus stand and non-availability of funds from the PRTC and PIDB.

An official of the PwD today said, “Of the awaited Rs 18 crore, the department has received over Rs 3 crore from the PRTC. The channel for pending funds from the PIDB has also been cleared and “We expect to receive the awaited funds soon,” XEN Piyush Aggarwal said.

Another official at the PwD said there is a shortage of labour for completing the work. “We are facing a labour crunch for the last two weeks. A number of workers are suffering from dengue and chikungunya. There is a shortage of labour due to the harvesting season. Many workers had gone back to their native villages for the Chhath puja, who will be returning soon,” he said.