Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s ‘dream’ project of floating amphibious buses in the State appears to be sinking even before properly surfacing. Just about a few months after he created ripples by announcing his plans to launch amphibian buses, the Centre has punched holes by yet not giving its approval.
Undeterred, Sukhbir on Sunday maintained that the buses will be on track ‘by march next year’ — according to the announcement he made in reply to the queries on his official Facebook page.
Sukhbir has recently claimed that the amphibious buses would soon be seen on the State’s road and rivers, possibly by this December. But he has to wait as of now, as the Centre has shown a green signal to some States, while not including Punjab in the list.
Reliable sources maintained that the States, including West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh, have been given a go-ahead to start the project. Besides, the Centre, for the purpose, has decided to notify more than 100 streams for water traffic within a period of next three months.
“The approval has been granted to other states…we have also sent our proposal and we are quite confident to get the approval as the announcement to launch the same was made in the presence of Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari. We have not yet lost our hopes,” said a senior Government official, requesting anonymity.
The official informed that the approval to the states was given by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), which primarily undertakes projects for development and maintenance of inland waterway terminal infrastructure on national waterways through grant received from the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.
Available information suggests that the IWAI has already set out the unique project, first of its kind in the country, in the permitted states.
For the purpose, the Authority has also started the process of procuring the hovercraft or an air-cushion vehicle — a vessel capable of travelling over land, water, mud or ice and other surfaces — from a British company.
Already, Gadkari is pressing for starting amphibious buses and roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) vessels — that can carry buses and cars with passengers in them — in Mumbai connecting the island city with the distant suburbs.
Besides, Andhra Pradesh Government is also working on a project to introduce amphibious buses to complete a five-temple tour in less than a week through roads and rivers. Sukhbir has been a butt of jokes for his bizarre ideas like the one of launching amphibious buses, which can run on roads and water as well, in a state like Punjab. Not discouraged, he decided to move ahead with the project, and make it a reality to retort to his critics. The Deputy Chief Minister had also declared that the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) had called for quotations in this regard. He has also made it clear that buses would be purely for tourism purposes and as per plans, it would run between Amritsar to Harike.
In a massive rally, Sukhbir, in Gadkari’s presence, has announced to launch “buses that will ride on water and on the road and passengers can catch fish while riding on the bus.” The out of the ordinary statement attracted major criticism, not only by the Opposition, but also by the people.