Paving way to operationalize Fazilka Bus Stand at the earliest, Punjab Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on Tuesday directed the officials to make arrangements to transfer the new bus stand to the Transport Department.
Notably, the new bus stand at Fazilka has been lying non-functional since December 2021, when it was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Reason: The bus stand was constructed on the land of Municipal Council (MC) and the Local Government Department has raised certain objections on the same.
Presiding over the important meeting with the higher officials of the Transport and Local Government Departments, including Fazilka District Administration on Tuesday, the Minister made it clear that the State Government will not allow wastage of people’s money in this way.
During the meeting to operationalize the new bus stand, which has been lying vacant for a long time, it was decided that the ownership of the new and old bus stand will be transferred by the Local Government and Transport Department to each other.
The Minister instructed the officials concerned to work-out the plan for transferring the land at the earliest and settle the matter by immediately transferring the higher price to the another department.
The Transport Minister said that after shifting the buses to the new bus stand, the traffic problem in the city will be resolved and the city residents will get better travel facilities.
Bhullar informed that after transferring the bus stand to the Transport Department, a plan will also be drawn up to establish requisite facilities such as workshop and diesel pump for government buses in the next phase.
Built with a cost of Rs 5.50 crores, the bus stand was launched in 2011, but the work on the bus stand could only start in 2016 due to lack of funds. After the change of guard in the state, the then Congress Government stopped the construction work in 2017, which later resumed in 2019, following which it was eventually inaugurated in 2021.