General Rodrigues visits ISBT terminus in sector-43 Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH : The Punjab Governor and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh, Gen. (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues, PVSM VSM, during his visit to the 2nd Inter State bus Terminus (ISBT) in Sector 43, Chandigarh, today asked the senior officers of the Chandigarh Administration to equip this public-utility project with state-of-the-art facilities & innovative technology, including electronic boards giving information about the arrival and departure of the long route buses to different important destinations. He asked the officers to constantly review the progress of the work on different components of the project and evolve a monitoring system for a periodical analysis of the services, to make need based additions for the convenience of the passengers.

Accompanied by Home Secretary, Mr. Krishna Mohan, Finance Secretary, Mr. Sanjay Kumar and senior officers of the Transport, Engineering and Architecture Departments of Chandigarh Administration, General Rodrigues went round

the different spots and took stock of the facilities being provided in this new Bus Terminus. He asked the Home Secretary to convene a meeting with his counterparts of Punjab & Haryana Governments to evolve a responsive mechanism to harmonise the operational part of the bus services by different States, under set rules and procedures without taking any arbitrary decisions at their own. He also told the Engineering Department to provide an effective drainage system at the Bus Stand and also suggested the use of CFL lighting system to save electricity.

General Rodrigues asked the officers to create proper medical facilities at the bus stand along with a crisis management team and panel of doctors to handle any kind of exigencies. An effective communication system must be established, to respond to the medical needs in case of bus accidents. He also told the officers to ensure high quality delivery services to the passengers by regulating the functioning of shopping stalls of food items & newspapers and magazines, safe drinking water, transit accommodation, guest rooms, washing rooms and toilets etc. He also directed the officers to evolve an effective mechanism to keep a check on the rates being charged by the shop owners for varied services and to ensure that the passengers are not over charged or harassed in any way.

The Administrator also visited the different counters being set up at the Bus Stand and asked the authorities to display proper sign-boards depicting relevant information for the convenience of the passengers. He also gave directions for ensuring proper security arrangements at the cash counters and all other facilitating points, attracting the public, as per standardized guidelines. Taking stock of the facilities being provided to the labourers working at the site, General Rodrigues asked the Engineering Department to provide them a decent working & living environment and create a crèche for their children. He made it clear to the officers that it should be made mandatory, in every contract for the contractors to ensure their proper and dignified living at the site of the project.

Director Transport, Mr. P.S. Shergill informed the Administrator that the estimated cost of 2nd Phase of the project is 14.61 crores with total area of 20.89 acres including space of parking of buses. He informed that the building plan include cash collection centers, transformer room, cloak room, automatic teller machine, station  upervisor/traffic manager room, control roadways office, enquiry, emergency medical room, crèche, fast food center, waiting room, shops, toilets and ticket counters. He informed that in First floor there will be dormitory for drivers & conductors, tourist offices, post office, railway reservation office, rest room, restaurant, pantry and in Second floor Open office space including toilets and Third Floor open office space including toilets. He informed that at present, about 802 buses are operating from ISBT-43 and about 1000 buses are operating from ISBT-17. To cope up with the increased traffic at ISBT-43, the routes of local buses have been extended/modified upto ISBT-43. Half hourly night bus service connecting ISBT-17 and ISBT-43 has been started from January 15, 2008. He said that it has been decided to shift all the buses from Shimla, Nahan, Patiala, Delhi & Ambala to new bus terminus in a phased manner by September, 2008.