Amritsar’s ₹600cr BRTS project misses deadline again

IN A LIMBO Due to delay in construction of six retrofitted shelters, more than 70 AC buses are gathering dust; officials claim now the project will be inaugurated in Dec

AMRITSAR: The state’s first ₹600crore bus rapid transit system (BRTS) in Amritsar has missed another deadline. As per the public works department (PWD-B&R), the agency that is executing all civil works connected with the project, now the project will be completed before December.

During a meeting with the officials of district administration in July this year, the state local government minister Navjot Singh Sidhu had announced that the project will be rolled out on October 15. At the same time, the government had also announced free travel facility for every commuter during first three months, while making it free for the school children forever.

Executive Engineer of PWD Jasbir Singh Sodhi said, “The construction work of retrofitted bus shelters (RBS) is undergoing and all other works have been completed. The project is expected to be completed before December.”

PWD had assigned the work to Urban Mass Transit Company Limited (UMTCL) which works under the Ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoH&UA). A senior officer of UMTCL, who didn’t want to be named, said, “The project was to be completed before October 15, but due to labour problem in April, strike of transporters and incessant rain, the construction work got delayed. Now, the project will be inaugurated in December.”

He, however, didn’t disclose the exact date of the inauguration. He said, “The construction work of 6 RBS—two near civil hospital, two outside the InterState Bus Terminal (ISBT) Amritsar and two opposite Amritsar Dental College—is undergoing at full swing. After the completion of these RBS, the project will be rolled out.”

He further said currently, as many as 20 BRTS buses are on road. However, these buses can be seen plying with one or two passengers only. UMTCL had purchased around 93 fully airconditioned (AC) buses for the project and around 70 buses have been gathering dust at a depot near the Verka Chowk for more than a year.

Currently, commuting on the city roads is a nightmare. In the past, many plans such as the city bus project (to tackle the traffic mess) had been unsuccessful.

The holy city, earlier, also saw its dream shattered when the Punjab government’s ambitious ‘Pods project’ had crashed. After many deliberations, the state government in 2013 decided to replicate the Ahmedabad BRTS model in Amritsar. Following the Ahmedabad model, the UMTCL has constructed around 47 bus stops, after every 500 metres, on the entire 31km stretch of the BRTS. The project was the favourite of former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal.

Earlier, the project was to be completed in July 2016, then in July 2017, then in July 2018 and then on October 15.