Shifting of Bus Stand: Transporters yield ground after HC get tough
After Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday made it clear that Batamaloo bus stand should remain sealed and closed for vehicles, the transporters have decided to shift the bus stand to the Parimpora.
A division bench of Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Alok Aradhe directed Srinagar Municipal Corporation and other authorities to ensure no bus operates from Batmaloo bus stand.
“We have sent 100 vehicles to the new location. There is no facility available at the new spot for bus operators,” Muhammad Sultan, General Manager of WBS said.
“Our families were starving. We had no option but to adhere to the court orders. For the last one and half month, nobody visited us despite our strike. On the direction of Divisional Commissioner, our voice was muzzled and we could do nothing,” he added.
“The court was misled by the authorities. Even those in jails are being provided much better facilities which we have been told to avail at the new bus stand”.
Pertinently on August 18, Jammu and Kashmir High Court ordered the authorities to seal the bus stand as part of city’s traffic decongestion plan given by the then SSP traffic.
The Batamaloo bus stand also known as western bus service (WBS) employees and the transporters associated with it had resisted the move to shift the bus stand from its actual position.
The officials at the WBS alleged that the newly constructed bus stand at Parimpora lacks the basic facilities like an office building, washrooms, and the overnight parking facilities.
The officials at WBS had alleged that the designated bus stand at Parimpora is a flood-prone area.
Meanwhile, in WBS had pleaded in the court that the shifting of the bus stand is a major setback to the shopkeepers who won’t be able to do business, the court stated the Batmaloo bus stand is not a recognized and is illegal now.
KV Correspondent
