Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 22: Representatives of various trade organizations and stakeholders in tourism and pilgrimage in the State have appealed the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the concerned authorities to shelve the shifting of Bus Stand for inter State buses from General Bus Stand to Narwal and instead implement the project of upgradation and modernization of existing Bus Stand with the creation of the multi-tier parking lot.
In a joint statement issued here today, Inderjeet Khajuria convenor, Action Committee, General Bus Stand Jammu and president, All Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association, Ravi Mahajan, chairman, Jammu Pratayan Vikas Mandal, Kuldeep Wahi, president, Jammu Hotels, Restaurants and Bars Association, Davinder Chadhary, president, Jammu province Tourist taxi Operators Union, Madhu Sharma, etc, have stated that the sifting of Bus Stand from the present site will ruin the entire business of Jammu city, while at the same time it will cause severe hardships to the commuters, particularly the Vaishno Devi pilgrims and other visitors coming from other States.
They observed that Special task force appointed for Jammu division in the year 2010, had recommended upgradation and modernization of General Bus Stand Jammu with allocation of Rs 77 crore for the same, out of which 35 crore were released to be spent during the year 2011-12 while the rest of the amount was to be released in the subsequent years, but no work on the modernization of the Bus Stand was taken in hand and what happened to the released amount of Rs 35 crore is a mystery. Moreover, the blue print for the upgradation of of Bus Stand has since long been prepared by JDA, they claimed.
They registered their strong resentment against the proposed move of the Government to shift the Bus Stand and appealed CM to shelve the same.