Mysuru: Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) has urged KSRTC officials to take a call on building a new Bus Stand after seeking opinion of all those who matter representing various sections of the society.

This resolution was taken during the ‘Monthly MGP meeting with KSRTC on handling congestion at KSRTC Bus Stand’ held under the Chairmanship of its President Shrishaila Ramannavar, at its office in Yadavagiri in city yesterday.

The meeting was attended by experts from various sectors who aired their opinions in an interaction with KSRTC Divisional Controller (Rural) Srinivas, who took note of the suggestions and made efforts towards addressing the concerns raised by the experts.

Retired Prof. Yadunandan, a MGP Member, who welcomed the decision to shift Sub-urban Bus Stand, explained about the prevailing confusions in the minds of the general public about the feasibility of the place identified in Bannimantap for the new bus stand.

“If the present bus stand is shifted elsewhere, the new bus stand should come up at an ideal location that can be accessed by all. It would be conducive, if the bus stand is constructed near Outer Ring Road (ORR) or any vast land, with better connectivity to Airport and Railway Station, along with boosting commercial sector. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) should be oriented towards the development of Mysuru, including the plans to check traffic snarls,” suggested Prof. Yadunandan.

In his reply, KSRTC DC Srinivas said, KSRTC is committed towards establishing new bus stand in any part of the city. The existing bus stand is facing a severe congestion stemming the emergent need for a new bus stand. In the last one-and-a-half years, seven accidents are reported in the bus stand and two passengers have lost their lives. Owing to traffic issues, it takes about 30 minutes to operate one bus. Taking all these into consideration, we have to take steps to ease the pressure on the bus stand, that is crowded with passengers from 7 am to 10 am and 5 pm to 9 pm. Besides, parking space has to be provided to station over 270 buses on their arrival from various destinations.

Search for place in outskirts

P. Vishwanath, former Mayor and Secretary of Vidyavardhaka Sangha said, instead of operating the bus stand in a congested place, it is better to operate the facility from the outskirts that would benefit all.

However, KSRTC DC Srinivas said, if the bus stand is built in the outskirts it would least serve the purpose, but such plans can be explored during the creation of new district centres. It would be not  feasible in already developed cities. The existing bus stand can handle the operation of 25 buses at a time, but a total of 2,600 buses including those of inter-State, district and local routes are being operated now. About 65 acres of land belonging to KSRTC is available at Bannimantap and the consent of Government has been sought for the new bus stand in 13 acres of land.

No full shifting of bus stand

Srinivas also explained that, the bus stand won’t be shifted to the proposed new station fully, except for the operation of buses on Mysuru rural, Mysuru-Mandya, Mysuru-Hassan, Mysuru-Kodagu  and Mysuru-Chamarajanagar districts routes, that will continue in the present bus stand. Plans are on the anvil to operate inter-State and inter-district buses from Bannimantap.

Founder-President of MGP Bhami V. Shenoy, MGP Member Nataraj, President of Mysuru Hotel Owners Association C. Narayanagowda and hotelier Ravi Shastri, also aired their opinions.

MGP Members S. Shobhana, S.V. Shekar, Ramu Agarwal, Vasanth, Rakesh, K.V. Ramanath, Arunkumar Shetty, D.V. Dayanand Sagar, B. Srinivas, G. Sridhar, S. Yogendra, K.V. Bhanu Prashanth, Dr. Nataraj, C.N. Sudheendra, N.T. Raj and others were present.