GSRTC’s proposal for satellite bus station in Rajkot gathering dust with government

RAJKOT: At a time when Saurashtra's financial hub Rajkot is struggling with the ever increasing traffic woes, a proposal from the state-run Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation's (GSRTC) Rajkot division for a satellite bus station near Madhapar crossroads to ease out congestion is gathering dust with the state government since last one year.
Though the idea was floated over a decade ago in 2005-06, the proposal for the satellite bus station on 150-feet Ring Road at Madhapar was moved only about a year back. The district collector has also indicated that it has land for the bus station.

According to officials of Rajkot division of GSRTC, the present central bus station is located in the centre of the city on Dhebar Road. Here, nearly 1,500 state transport buses from across Saurashtra carry over 1.45 lakh passengers in and out of the city everyday. And since these buses pass through some of the busiest roads like Yagnik Road, Gondal Road and Hospital crossroads, it causes heavy traffic jam there. Currently, the central bus station is under renovation and temporary bus stand is set up in Shastri Ground, which is also a congested area.

GSRTC's Rajkot divisional manager Dinesh Jethwa said, "We have moved the proposal to set up a satellite bus stand near Madhapar crossroads, which connects Jamnagar and Junagadh route with Ahmedabad. This will ease the burden on central bus stand."

Furthermore, with setting up of satellite bus station, buses from Jamnagar and going towards Ahmedabad, north Gujarat and south Gujarat won't need to enter the city. The buses from Junagadh, Somnath and Porbandar, too, won't require to enter the city. These buses will pass through the 150-feet Ring Road to go out of the city. Passengers getting off a Madhapar can reach other parts of the city using the BRTS and RMTS (Rajkot Municipal Transport Service) 150-feet Ring Road.

Rajkot has more than 13 lakh registered two-wheelers with 20,000 new added every month. There are also about 2 lakh cars in the city. Rajkot district collector Dr Vikrant Pandey said, "If government notifies satellite bus station for Rajkot, we have wasteland available. We are waiting for government's approval."