‘ISBT’ at Delhi airport for luxury buses from Punjab

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has created a special “staging area” for luxury buses coming to Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) from Punjab. The location, near Centaur Hotel, has been notionally “designated” as an interstate bus terminal (ISBT).
On Wednesday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart, Bhagwant Mann, flagged off the first batch of government-run luxury buses from Jalandhar, which will directly come to IGIA instead of the Kashmere Gate ISBT. The Delhi government had to make some arrangements, including the spot for these buses, to allow them directly reach the airport.
Ashish Kundra, principal secretary-cum-transport commissioner of the Delhi government, said a large number of people, coming from Punjab to board international flights, used to first get down at an ISBT before using another conveyance to reach IGIA.
Since buses from other states are not allowed to stop anywhere between the border and one of the three ISBTs in Delhi to pick up or drop passengers, some changes were required. “We notified a route from the Singhu border to IGI Airport for these buses,” Kundra told TOI, adding that a memorandum of understanding was signed with Delhi International Airport Ltd to create the staging area.
“Thirty buses can be accommodated at the location, which has been ‘notionally’ designated as an ISBT,” he added. The Delhi government has also provided permits for four months to buses to operate from the airport.
The buses arriving from Punjab will enter the national capital at the Singhu border and travel through Mukarba Chowk, Madhuban Chowk, Janakpuri, Dhaula Kuan and the Aerocity underpass to reach the staging area. More facilities are also expected to come up at the staging area for the passengers. Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot visited the airport last week to inspect the Delhi Transport Corporation’s counter.
While seven luxury buses were launched from Jalandhar on Wednesday, direct bus services to IGIA are also going to operate from Amritsar, Pathankot, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Patiala, Chandigarh etc.
The work on Delhi’s fourth ISBT, at Dwarka Sector 22, is expected to begin soon. In the pipeline for more than a decade, it will come up close to the airport and cater mainly to buses arriving from Haryana and Punjab.