The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) is going to take vital decisions regarding the addition of new buses to its fleet, and on the proposal of new multi-storey inter-state bus terminal (ISBT) in its board of directors (BoD) meeting, which is expected to be held this week. The PRTC is waiting for the joining of its new chairman KK Malhotra, who had officially taken charge last week, to hold the meeting.
The PRTC board of directors, includes principal secretaries of transport and finance departments, managing director and chairman of the corporation, state transport commissioner (STC) and two representatives each from the Union ministry of shipping, road transport and highway, and Northern Railways.
One of the senior officials said, besides discussion on the administrative work, the proposal mainly includes linking the international airport in New Delhi and Amritsar to every depot in the state, addition of new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) buses, and construction of new ISBT.
The said proposal will be presented in the meeting. “Only after the board of directors’ approval, can the orders of new buses be placed accordingly,” said an official.
ON LIST OF DEMANDS
Moreover, the PRTC has recently directed its depot managers to provide a list of financially viable routes under their jurisdiction, so as to start integral buses on these routes in order to increase the corporation’s revenue, besides improving public transport facilities across region.
The corporation has also proposed to start Sweden-made super luxury Scania buses to international airports in New Delhi and Amritsar from main stations in Punjab, at cheaper rates. The PRTC luxury bus fare to New Delhi airport will be Rs 650, while private operators charge anything between Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,400.
Besides, the addition of 25 new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) buses to its fleet, bus connectivity to Chandigarh from every district in Punjab is also on the cards.
With the earlier air-conditioned ISBT project failing to materialise due to legal hitches, the corporation has also come up with a fresh proposal for construction a new ISBT at another location. It has already written a communiqué to secretary transport to go ahead with full-fledged project details, at the earliest.
The PRTC has asked the transport department to take up the matter with Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) to transfer six acre land in Rajpura Colony, opposite the current ISBT, for construction of the new establishment. However, as per proposal, PRTC has planned to come up with two bus stands, one for long route buses and other for mini- and local buses.
PRTC managing director (MD) Manjit Singh Narang said that the proposal of adding new buses will help the corporation in providing better public transport facility as well as in improving its daily revenue. “We have only come up with this proposal, the final decision will be taken in the board of directors’ meeting, which will be held in coming days,” he said. Narang added that the proposal also aims at making the new ISBT more commercially viable to generate more revenue from it.
