Since sky is the limit, why should Jammu city not long for and have a state of art Bus stand on the pattern of the inter-state bus terminus like in Delhi’s Anand Vihar with enough departure and arrival bus bays with all the ancillary facilities for the travelling public? There are enough reasons rather need for that looking to the ever increasing number of transport vehicles both private and public, Jammu being the entry point of all vehicles bound for Kashmir region and even for Ladakh. A footfall of lakhs of pilgrim tourists to Mata Shri Vaishno Devi, Shri Amarnath Shrine and other places arriving in Jammu by buses, hired vehicles and even private vehicles, in most cases a stopover of a few hours and even overnight parking facilities becomes an unavoidable requirement. To meet such a huge requirement, building a modern Bus Stand with all the facilities at B. C. Road was planned and the job was assigned to the Jammu Development Authority and without mincing words despite undergoing many humps, it came up with high expectations and made known to be ready for operational use. In February this year, the Lieutenant Governor inaugurated the new JDA Bus Stand Complex ostensibly to resolve the main problem of parking of buses and private cars in the already over chocked roads of Jammu. It was hoped that the woes of parking and congestion on account of vehicles parked in disarray on roads and particularly on the B. C. Road would be over and the pleasure of parking private cars in the multi level car parking area complex would make the owner carefree to move about, shop and visit nearby places but the ground reality soon after the inauguration proved otherwise. Agreed, the invasion of COVID-19 virus pandemic affected and topsy turvey almost all planning and expected dividends from investments and the JDA Bus Stand Complex too had, as such, to pay its ”share ”of price but practically, the Bus Stand Complex is inoperative. There should have been a heavy turnover of incoming and departing buses from and to various places both from within Jammu and Kashmir as also from other states. Equally, there should have been a virtual scramble for car parking but it is not to be seen not to speak of much hyped food courts and hustle bustle of shops and their customers. More or less, the Complex wears a deserted look. While on the one hand, we aspire for better facilities, on the other, unfortunately, generally a mindset of not paying at all or paying just nominally pervades and suffuses most of us defeating the projections of revenue looking to huge investments made in erecting the complex like the one under reference. To make the point clear, a paltry fee of Rs. 100 for every bus entering the complex was resisted to an extent getting it halved but still it did not pick up except making the best of it by a few by parking the whole day of such vehicles here which are otherwise off the roads. When the Bus Stand Complex did not take off as planned, the shops too could not be opened and the plight of those shop owners who were dislocated from here and allotted the new space in the complex are struggling to make a living. Imagine, if all the 1500 slots of car and two wheelers would have been running to their full capacity, how much revenue would have been generated besides enjoying the facilities by the users. A relook as to where things went wrong and why entirely against the projections and other realistic estimates needs to be made at the earliest to salvage the whopping amount of over Rs.200 crore spent on it from getting virtually wasted which otherwise being public funds. It is a classical case of an asset in the heart of the city getting wasted and the need to take it out of the present morass is vital and to refurbish, reshape and even go in for lesser pricing of its services looking to the economic pressures and strains brought in its wake by the COVID -19 pandemic, so that turnover of vehicles in it increases. The accepted rule is increased turnover at affordable even lesser pricing was a guarantee of the earnings increasing gradually to reach the break-even point within a year or two. Housing and Urban Development Department must shun its lackadaisical approach in respect of resolving the intricate problems, the JDA Bus Stand Complex is confronted with
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