Built at Rs39 lakh, GMDC bus station is being rebuilt to increase floor height.
The Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL) has spent a whopping Rs50 lakh to construct a BRTS bus station near GMDC - an amount at which a middle-class, salaried person can buy two two BHK flats in any affordable housing scheme! Built initially at Rs39 lakh, the prototype bus station is being rebuilt partially to increase the floor height at an additional cost of around Rs10 lakh, after an alteration was introduced in the original design.
Failure to introduce low floor buses has been cited as the major reason for the reconstruction of the bus station. "Our plan was to purchase buses with 350 mm height, and it was considering this that the prototype station was built. Later, however, because of higher cost of buses with 30 mm height, the AJL switched over to semi low floor buses with 900 mm floor height," said a senior AJL official.
The official also said that the GMDC station is the only one that requires reconstruction. All the other 19 bus stations on the 12.5 km stretch, from RTO to Pirana, have a floor height of 900 mm. This is because the GMDC was a prototype bus station and was constructed even before the bus design was finalised.
"The same contractor is rebuilding the bus station. Additional expense is pegged at not less than Rs10 lakh," added the official.
Apart from an increase in the floor height, the automated doors that were already installed at the station will also have to be changed. However, the AJL official said that the contractors have been instructed to reuse materials like steel ropes and decorative items.
Reacting to the AJL's unplanned move to rebuild BRTS bus station, leader of the opposition in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Surendra Baxi said, "It is a waste of the public's hard-earned money.
Why couldn't they study the requirements and plan the construction accordingly? They are also misusing funds given by the Central and the state government by rebuilding the bus station and spending an additional of Rs10 lakh for increasing the floor height."
Ruckus was also created with regard to the construction of the BRTS bus station when the expenditure of Rs40 lakh for one bus station was disclosed. Incidentally, chief minister Narendra Modi who examined the proto type bus station had recommended reducing the height of bus station from 11 feet to 9 feet, and reducing the use of steel to cut the cost and spend the amount for advertisement.
It was later that the Cept experts had changed the design for the bus station and brought down the construction cost to Rs37 lakh.
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