Proper entry to Karnal’s new bus stand from NH-44

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 15

Nine months after it was inaugurated, the ultra-modern bus stand near Baldi bypass on National Highway-44 will get a slipway for the proper entry of buses from the highway. The existing entry point from NH side poses a threat of accidents, forcing the authorities to rethink over the project.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had inaugurated the first phase of the bus stand on April 30, 2018, with the facility of six bays near Baldi bypass. It was a poll issue and the CM, during his election campaign, announced to shift the existing bus stand out of the city to make the city roads congestion free. But, as per the sources associated with the project, the entry point of the bus stand from NH side had been constructed with a sharp curve.

After getting approval, the Karnal depot of Haryana Roadways deposited Rs 1.66 crore to the PWD for the construction of the slipway, said an official of the depot.

“The Public Works Department (PWD), B&R, has allotted tender to a company which will start work on the slipway, costing Rs 89.44 lakh, from February 4. The slipway will be constructed from Uchani village to the main entry point of the bus stand. It would make the entry of buses to the bus stand smooth,” said RK Nain, XEN, PWD II division.

Gaurav Bargujar, SDO, PWD, said a new slipway for entry would reduce the possibility of accident at the entry point. “The company will complete it in two months after the commencement of the work,” he added.

Moreover, sources claimed that there were provisions of lift and a sewerage treatment plant in the newly constructed bus stand, but both the facilities had not been constructed so far.

The residents alleged that the bus stand had been started in haste, without making proper entry points from the NH. “This bus stand was an ambitious project of the CM, but several irregularities were made while constructing it. Both the entry and exit points are posing accident threats for commuters as well as for buses,” said Dimple Singh, a resident of Char Chaman.

Shiv Kumar Rana, another resident, said the government had announced to construct a new bus stand in the city to provide relief to commuters as the old bus stand was resulting in traffic congestion. The previous Congress Government had even laid the foundation stone of the project in Sector 12, but after coming to power, the BJP government shifted the project outside the city but no proper entry was given to the bus stand.