10 months on, Mohali ISBT a non-starter

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 22   

Almost 10 months after its inauguration with much fanfare, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur ISBT at Phase VI, a dream project of former deputy chief minister of Punjab Sukhbir Badal, has been a complete fiasco. 

Not only the number of buses coming to the new bus stand has decreased but arrival of passengers here has also reduced substantially. 

At present, the new air-conditioned bus terminus, constructed at a cost of about Rs 200 crore, witnesses the arrival of nearly 200 buses and fewer than 100 people daily.

In contrast, the old bus stand at Phase VIII, which is an unauthorised site, is visited by hundreds of passengers. It witnesses arrival of more private and government buses than the new terminus.  

The Badal government had claimed that as many as 1,932 buses would daily arrive at the new ISBT but the number could only touch the highest figure of 650 and that, too, before the restart of the old bus terminus at Phase VII in March this year. 

“Now, the number of buses arriving at the new bus terminus has come down to 200 and the footfall is less than 100. One could easily gauge the poor state of affairs here,” said Col CVS Sehgal (retd), chief general manager of C&C Company, which has been handling the project.

Most buses just pass through the new bus terminus without making a stop, leaving passengers aghast. The number of buses coming here has been coming down with each passing day despite the fact that the authorities, including of the state Transport Department, are striving hard to get more buses here.  Recently, the department directed the officials concerned to make sure all buses coming from the Punjab side and vice-versa visited the new bus terminus. Such directions have been made several times earlier also.  Colonel Sehgal claimed that they had sent a number of communiques to all departments concerned to get all buses here.  

In the absence of passengers, the new ISBT has also failed to attract shopkeepers and other businessmen. Now, investors, who had put their money in the company to get retail shops and office spaces in the business towers (which are yet to come up under the project), have started demanding their money back. A few of them have staged protest twice at the ISBT premises. 

As the company had delayed the project for nearly five years, GMADA has already initiated the process of termination of contract with the company. Now, it (GMADA) is all set to move the file to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for further action. So far, the company has only completed the first phase of the project worth about Rs 500 crore. The GMADA officials have maintained that the new ISBT is the authorised site for bus operations in the town.

A complete fiasco

• The Badal government had claimed that as many as 1,932 buses would arrive daily at the new ISBT
• Most buses pass through the new bus terminus without making a stop
• Transport Department directions to bring more buses here have failed to elicit desired results
• Investors in Rs 500-cr project are demanding money back
• So far, the company has completed only the first phase of the project