The Hubballi-Dharwad Bus Rapid Corridor System (HD-BRTS) will be formally inaugurated by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday. It has been on a trial run for the last one year.
The dedicated bus corridor, which is already ferrying close to 1 lakh commuters daily, was conceptualised and sanctioned in 2012.
The formal inauguration will take place at 3 p.m. in the presence of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, and other dignitaries.
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While the World Bank has released 33% [₹324.32 crore] of the total project cost of ₹970.87 crore, the remaining was funded by the State government.
At present 100 air-conditioned ‘Chigari’ buses are plying on the BRTS and the procurement of an additional 55 electric buses is under way.
The project was delayed owing to various reasons including land acquisition and road widening issues.
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Amid complaints about improper execution, the bus service has received a good response and recently smart card facility for the commuters was launched.
Meanwhile, an organisation from Hubballi has urged Mr. Naidu not to inaugurate the project as it was ‘incomplete’.
President of Samata Sena, Gurunath Ullikashi, has submitted a memorandum to the Office of the Vice President in this regard.
He said already mails have been sent to officials of the secretariat of the Vice President.
According to Mr. Ullikashi, inaugurating an ‘incomplete’ work would bring disrespect to the Office of the Vice President and alleged that the inauguration of the project was being held owing to pressure by Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi and Large and Medium Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, and Arvind Bellad, MLA.
He has said that the incomplete Navalur Bridge was a proof of the lack of proper planning in the execution of the project.
He has also alleged that the traffic signalling system on the bus corridor was unscientific and several problems were being faced by the residents of Hubballi –Dharwad.
Mr. Ullikashi has said that the Office of the Vice President was being kept in the dark about the ‘incomplete’ works and the members of Samata Sena would also try to submit a memorandum to Mr. Naidu during his visit to Hubballi.
He has also said that as they were aware that inauguration would happen despite the opposition, they would urge the authorities to at least rectify the anomalies within 100 days of the inauguration of the project.