545 JNURM buses to hit the road in State by March end: Reddy

Transport Minister R. Ramlinga Reddy said on Wednesday that as many as 545 city buses under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) would be introduced in different towns of the State by the end of March 2015.

Speaking to presspersons after inspecting the KSRTC Bus Deport and construction of JNURM Bus Depot here, Mr. Reddy said this included 30 city buses each under JNURM for Udupi and Bhadravati, 35 each for Mangaluru, Bhadravati and Hassan, 50 each for Ramanagara and Davangere, 65 for Shivamogga, 25 each for Kolar and KGF, 45 additional buses for Tumakuru and 125 additional buses for Mysuru.

To another question, he said that an amount of Rs. six crore had been sanctioned for the construction of JNURM Bus Depot in Udupi. The construction of the depot was expected to be completed by March 2015. Once the construction of the depot was completed, city buses under JNURM would be started here.

Already 40 cents of lands belonging to the Department of Public Instruction had been identified for a Bus Stand for the JNURUM city buses near the City Bus Stand. Though the Department of Public Instruction had released Rs. 1.45 crore for the construction of a building in this 40 cents of area, it would be shifted to the Board High School here to make way for the JNURM Bus Stand.

The KSRTC Bus Stand for Udupi would be constructed in two acres and 94 cents of land at Bannanje here. This land belonged to the Public Works Department. Talks were on with the Public Works Department to get the land transferred to the Transport Department.

Though the National Highways Department had sought the land of the present KSRTC Bus Depot here for construction of a truck bay, an alternative site had been suggested for it (truck bay) near Uppoor-Kallianpur.

New KSRTC bus stands would be constructed in all those towns in the State which did not have them in the next two years. The aim was to provide better facilities for the passengers in these bus stands.

To a query, he ruled out reduction in KSRTC bus fares due to reduction in price of diesel. The diesel prices were subject to fluctuations in crude oil prices. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was demanding reduction in bus fares should get the measure implemented in the 10 states ruled by it.

On two private buses catching fire in the last two days, he said that the Transport Department had issued 12 guidelines for safety of all buses. But in these two cases the outbreaks were purely accidents, Mr. Reddy said.

Pramod Madhwaraj, MLA, P. Yuvaraj, President of Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC), were also present.