The Hindu 31.01.2014
Now DDA to search for land for relocating Millennium Bus Depot
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Thursday informed the High Court that it would search for a piece of land for allotment to the Delhi Government for building a new bus depot in place of the Millennium Bus Depot.
Counsel for the DDA gave this assurance when the Court asked it if it was not their responsibility to provide land to the Government for shifting the bus depot. The Court also observed that if the Government did not provide an alternative plot of land, thousands of buses would be parked on the road.
The Court later said that a senior DDA official who knew all the details about the matter would be present in the Court on February 19, the next date of hearing.
The land development authority had on Wednesday informed the Court that it did not have spare land for the new bus depot.
The Government has decided to dismantle the depot and shift it to another place to restore the flood pan of the Yamuna.
The Court has directed the Government to complete the shifting process within nine months.
The depot was built for a temporary period by the previous Sheila Dikshit Government at a cost of Rs. 60 crore in 2010 ahead of the Commonwealth Games for parking DTC buses during the sports event.
The Court had in 2012 directed the Delhi Government to align use of the land on which the depot was built with the Delhi Master Plan.
The Court had passed the direction while disposing of two public interest litigations challenging the construction of the depot in the ‘Yamuna river pan’. The Bench had given six months time to the Government to do the alignment.
But it failed to do it. Thereafter, a contempt petition was filed against the Government. It is pending in the Court.
