Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): The announcement minister for housing and urban development, Bhupendra Singh, made around a month ago to open BRTS to public during peak hours to ease the traffic pressure on the main roads is yet to be translated into action.
The minister’s announcement was warmly welcomed as the much-hyped Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the past has witnessed many accidents and fatalities and has become one of the main reasons for the heavy traffic snarls in the city. Public and public representatives on several occasions have manifested their displeasure over traffic jams due to the bus corridor. The minister of housing and urban development was the latest to have expressed his dissatisfaction. Singh during an event a month ago had termed the BRTS concept 'erroneous'. He had further said that the government will think and plan to dismantle the corridor from the state capital, and till then the corridor will be opened for public use in the peak hours so that the pressure of the traffic can be reduced from the main roads. However, almost a month has passed but still no concrete has been taken in connection with the opening of the corridor to public, and subsequently its dismantling. Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has spent more than Rs 400 crores for construction and maintenance of BRTS corridor, however, the corridor has failed to serve the desired purpose. The 24 kilometers long corridor constructed between 2009 and 2011 connects Hirdaram Nagar to Misrod.
Earlier, the minister for medical education had also questioned the BRTS concept and had advocated its dismantling in the state capital. In 2019, the then Congress minister for urban administration Jaivardhan Singh too had said in a public event that the process to dismantle the corridor will be initiated soon.
Technical study report awaited: BMC
BMC commissioner KVS Choudary when asked about the updates of the minister’s announcement; he said that the corporation has conducted a technical study, the report of which is expected soon. The decision to open the corridor for public and then its dismantling will depend on the report and accordingly necessary steps would be initiated, said the official.
