PUNE: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will take two more months to shift the Shivajinagar ST stand to Mula Road, as the required land has not been handed over to the transport department.
The shifting has been necessitated due to the metro railway work and the bus port proposed to be built at its current location. The department has decided to set up a state-of-the-art bus port at the present location and a metro station will also be built.
The MSRTC Pune division had proposed three locations - Sinchan Nagar at Range Hills, the Egg Horticulture Centre at Wakdewadi (Mula Road) and the College of Engineering Pune or SSPMS College Ground for the makeshift bus stand. The Mula Road location was finalised due to the availability of land. Sakal Times had published the news in August about the shifting.
Currently, the Shivajinagar ST stand occupies 15,700 square metres of area and the bus stand, workshop and ST office operate from here.
The MahaMetro had submitted a proposal to MSRTC to start works of the metro railway and the tunnel. Hence, the ST stand, the workshop and the office will be shifted to Mula Road.
MSRTC will provide 3,185 square metres of space to MahaMetro for the metro railway work.
Pune Divisional Controller Yamini Joshi said, “Around 90 per cent of the shifting (paper) work has been completed. Now, we are waiting for the possession of the land, which is expected to be handed over in January. By February, public amenities such as chairs, toilets, a help centre, a current booking counter and others will be over. We have to wait two more months for shifting of the ST stand from Shivajinagar to Mula Road.”
According to the plan, the metro railway station work will be completed in a year. The port work will take three more years. During this period, the existing bus stand will operate from the new place.
