Rajan Gandhi
The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus or CMBT is a modern bus terminus located in Chennai, India, providing outstation transport services. Spread over an area of 37 acres in Koyambedu, it is accredited with the ISO 9001:2000 quality certification for its quality management and excellence. It’s the largest bus Terminus in Asia and second biggest bus depot in India after Delhi Millennium Depot. The terminus has 6 platforms in 3 bus fingers with 180 bus bays. The terminus currently handles more than 500 buses at a time, and 3,000 buses and 250,000 passengers a day. The 37-acre bus terminus has an 17,840 sq ft waiting facility for passengers, a 25,000 sq ft parking space for auto rickshaws, cabs and private cars, and 16,000 sq ft parking space for two-wheelers. The amenities provided in the terminus include 3 hotels and 3 smaller eateries inside the terminus, 3 locker rooms, 10 travel agency offices, shops, supermarkets, ATMs, dorm rooms (A/C and non-A/C) for rent, toilets, round-the-clock security, pure drinking water free of cost facilitated by a reverse-osmosis treatment plant, a 24-hour emergency medical care centre, a 24- hour pharmacy and free wi-fi internet. Wheel chairs are provided for the physically disabled. With 16 reservation counters ,it has been estimated that over 500,000 footfalls per day is being recorded at CMBT and over 4,800 buses, including intra-city buses, ply in and out of CMBT. There are provisions for parking 1,500 to 2,000 two-wheelers and 100 cars on the premises of the bus terminus. Two more parking levels are incorporated, each measuring 3,000 sq.m and with a capacity of 1,500 vehicles, can accommodate a total of 3,000 two-wheelers at depths of 10 feet (3.0 m) and 20 feet (6.1 m). It has two ramps and three staircases. The roof of the parking lot has been developed as a garden and has been provided with a sprinkler irrigation system, a pedestrian pathway, and a fountain.
Similarly, The Maharana Pratap Inter-state bus terminus popularly known as Kashmiri Gate ISBT or ISBT, located in Delhi is the oldest and one of the biggest Inter State Bus Terminals in India opened in 1976. It operates bus services between Delhi and 7 other states, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Spread over an area of about 13 acres, it handles over 1800 buses a day.It served as the only ISBT in Delhi till 1993 when it was transferred to the Transport Department, after which two new ISBT’s were created in Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar to de-congest the overcrowded Kashmiri Gate ISBT. It was renovated in 2011-2012 by DIMTS at a cost of ? 70 Crores. The Terminus has 45 departure bus bays, eight idle bus bays and 13 arrival bus bays, all catering to Inter-State Buses or Buses to other ISBT’s in Delhi. Local buses for other parts of capital are being operated from the mini bus stand which is known as D.T.C. Block at Inter State Bus Terminus Kashmiri Gate. The departure block, waiting area and food court are centrally air conditioned. Reverse osmosis plants have been installed to supply clean drinking water to the passengers. high speed, secured wi-fi zone allows passengers to remain connected. To keep the building environment friendly a sewage treatment plant has been installed with the capacity of 1000 cubic meter per day. The sewage water is treated and recycled to be used in the air-conditioning plant and for the purpose of horticulture and flushing of toilets. A new parking management system has also been developed which is capable of storing data of buses entering and exiting the premises, high resolution CCTV cameras have also been installed for surveillance.
Now compare this with the facilities at Jammu bus stand and one wonders whether this is the bus stand of a state where more than 70 lakh pilgrims alone visit Mata Vaishno Deviji along with more than two and a half lakh pilgrim for Amarnathji yatra in the month of July itself and entry point to all Kashmir bound tourists. The very fact that Mata Vaishno Deviji yatra touched one crore mark in 2011-12 and thereafter a steady downfall has been registered over the years due to various factors including terrorism, flood, Kedarnath tragedy , but lack of facilities , infrastructure has been one of the major reasons for decline in numbers . No detailed study has been done on the dwindling numbers though pilgrimage tourism is the back bone of our state’s economy which itself speaks about the seriousness of successive state governments. Though Mufti Mohammed government in 2002 took number of steps which included broadening of highways, creation of number of parking lots and new bus stands at Narwal , Khanpora – Nagrota and Muthi ,but the very fact that even after lapse of so many years state government is not able to shift bus stand from existing place to so called new bus stand which has meanwhile turned into parking lot for private vehicles right now. With a new multi- level parking conceived and implemented at old bus stand, it seems city developers have not learnt a lesson from the past and bits and pieces approach is not going to help anybody in future.
The city of Jammu has expanded multifold and so have its requirements according to status of this very special city. Jammu is gateway to all incoming pilgrims as well as tourists to Kashmir and as such a ultra modern bus stand with latest multi facilities is the need of hour. Government should immediately earmark a major piece of land approximately 50-60 acres and plan an international level bus depot with amenities like round the clock security including CCTV cameras, a/c- non a/c cloak rooms, chain of hotels and eateries, round the clock medical facilities and a huge multi level parking for two wheelers, cars, buses. Special community hall on the pattern of Amarnath yatri bhavan should be incorporated in the plan as all incoming yatris run pillar to posts for registration, medical check -up and of course staying facility. This facility can also be used during winter for stranded passengers bound for Kashmir who every year face hardships leading to protests and chaos.
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine board can be taken on board for this project as they have necessary resources and experience of managing pilgrims at Katra, Bhavan and even at Jammu railway station where they are running Yatri Bhavans and providing commendable services to tourists as well as pilgrims. SRTC can immensely benefit from all these as planned tours to Kashmir, Patnitop, Sanasar, Suriansar, Mansar as well as tourists places of Chenab valley as well as Rajouri – Poonch can be undertaken. This can give a major flip to SRTC which is finding difficult to survive after losing Kashmir and other route business to taxi operators and other state road transport corporations. With proposed AIIMS, IIT, IIM coming up state authorities should immediate start planning for the future as it seems there is no visionary plan right now. Jammu and Kashmir has already lost major revenue earning routes of interstate buses to rival state road corporations and this proper planning will ensure revival of tourism and also generate much needed employment for youth. Decades have been lost and it’s time for state agencies to wake up from slumber and focus on world class projects to revive the economy of the state.
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