Stone laid in 2018, work on Jassur bus stand yet to start

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, May 19

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had laid the foundation stone of an inter-state bus stand at Jassur, near here, on November 19, 2018, but, owing to official bottlenecks, the construction work is yet to start.

Tender with pvt contractor

Local Forest Department officials have forwarded the case to the forest corporation wing for felling trees. A tender has been awarded to a private contractor for felling 234 khair trees on the land. —Raj Kumar Jaryal, Divisional Manager, HRTC, Dharamsala

The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) owned a land at Jassur near a vegetable market and acquired some additional land from the state Agriculture Department for the construction of a bus stand complex. The land comprises of over 200 standing trees which can’t be axed in the non-forest land and thus the work could not be initiated for the past over three years.

Raj Kumar Jaryal, divisional manager, HRTC, Dharamsala, says the case for felling trees was submitted to the Forest Department 10 months ago. He adds the department had forwarded the case to the forest corporation wing of the department for felling trees. A tender was awarded to a private contractor for felling 234 khair trees on the land, recently, he says.

Inquiries reveal that the HRTC, through the HP City Transport Management Development Authority (HPCTMDA), has proposed its construction under the public private partnership (PPP) mode. However, the approval of the drawing and design of this inter-state bus stand-cum-shopping complex is in the final phase. Its estimated cost is yet to be assessed by the HPCTMDA, which is likely touch or cross Rs 50 crore.

Madan Lal Chouhan, the executive engineer of the HPCTMDA, Shimla, says the proposed drawing-cum-design of the project prepared by the HRTC has been submitted to the HPCTMDA for primary approval. “The HPCTMDA has returned the proposal to the HRTC after the initial approval. Now, the HRTC will submit it again to the HPCTMDA for assessing the estimated cost and floating tenders for the construction of the project,” he adds. Chouhan says after completion of the tender process, the project is likely to take shape in over two years, subject to the availability of funds.