After years of offering tantalisingly ambitious plans of building a multi-level towering edifice for a bus-stand as a panacea for the ills of Kalasipalya Bus Stand, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has scaled down its plans to allow for a “realistic” project.
Currently, piles of garbage, muck and debris are strewn all around the bus-stand, which serves as a major transit point for outstation private buses, making it resemble a dumping yard.
It was in 2002 that the first proposal to upgrade the bus-stand had been discussed among civic agencies. By 2010, the proposal had transformed into ideas of a mega “high-tech” bus-stand. Even as recent as August 2014, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy had spoken of a Rs. 209 crore project in the five-acre area to ensure modern infrastructure and commercial space on the lines of the Traffic and Transit Management Centres built in Yeshwanthpur, Koramangala and Banashankari.
However, BMTC says the plan has been scaled down keeping financial constraints in mind, particularly after the winding up of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The new plan – for which tenders will be called next month – involves basic bus bays and shelters and a “small commercial space”, said Ekroop Caur, BMTC’s Managing Director.
“It is all State funding now. It will be much lesser than Rs. 209 crore. We will seek funds from Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport,” she added.
(Reporting by
Mohit M. Rao)
