Roads to new ISBT ill-equipped
By Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 13 — Even as the second Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) in Sector 43 is ready for commissioning, the roads leading up to the terminus from all sides are not equipped to deal with the expected increase in the volume of buses.

The increase in numbers of vendors, rickshaw-pullers and auto-rickshaws, besides people providing other services like tyre puncture shops, teastalls etc will be manifold. Probably some action will be initiated after a few road users die and several others are injured, said a concerned citizen of Sector 42, whose house is near the new terminus.

No work has started to construct a dual carriageway that will make lives of road users much safer. This despite the fact that space has been earmarked for it in the area. Under the master plan, the entire stretch of road from Sectors 47 and 48 to 39 and 56 has a provision for a dual carriageway. But typical of the neglect that prevails in the southern sectors, only the roundabouts have dual carriageways while vehicles coming from other directions jostle for road space.

The existing single road is already very congested and people, especially those who will come to ‘’drop’’ someone at the bus stand, will take a `U’-turn from the middle of the road, thus exposing themselves to the oncoming traffic. It is understandable that buses have separate entry and exit points.

However, who will keep a check on rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, scooters or even cars taking ‘U’ turns from the middle of the road ? Can the police afford to post traffic policemen all along the road for the entire day?

The focus of the Administration seems to be centred far away from the possible simple problems faced by residents of the southern sectors.

Sector 7 phone exchange awaits equipment
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 13 — A new telephone exchange building is ready in Sector 7. however, it is not being put to use as the necessary equipment is yet to arrive. Initially the exchange will have a capacity of 2,000 lines which will be later augmented up to 10,000 lines.

Sources said the building had been ready for more than a month now, but delay in procuring equipment was preventing the use of the building.

The department is also drawing up plans to see how many sectors can be served by this exchange. This will be part of the bifurcation exercise that is also bringing the exchanges closer to the subscriber, thus minimising the number of faults.

The department inaugurated a 1,000-line remote line unit (RLU) in the Industrial Area (Phase VII), SAS Nagar, last week. This is for the use of subscribers in the Industrial Area (Phases VII and VIII).