PUNE: State govt has approved redevelopment of the dilapidated Swargate bus station, nearly a year after Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) proposed it, state transport minister and MSRTC chairperson Pratap Sarnaik said on Monday.The groundwork, however, is expected to begin only in Dec or early next year and the project is likely to take at least two years.Sarnaik told TOI that 830 MSRTC depots and bus stations had been approved for redevelopment and revamping, with 180 being taken up in the first phase. Swargate is among them.“Tenders will be finalised within the next three months, following which work will begin. We have to ensure that bus operations continue simultaneously. Bus movements may be partially affected, but services cannot be completely stopped,” he said.An MSRTC official said maintaining operations during redevelopment would be a major challenge as there was no nearby site to which bus operations could be shifted, unlike at Shivajinagar, where services were moved to Wakdewadi.“The Swargate multimodal hub is also under construction and is planned to integrate Metro, PMPML and MSRTC services. We are awaiting clarity on how the redevelopment will be integrated with the multimodal hub and whether buses will operate from both facilities during the transition,” the official said.Passengers, meanwhile, said they were more concerned about visible improvements than long-term plans.“Whatever they are planning is still a mystery, but at least some improvement work should have happened by now,” said Salisbury Park resident and private-sector employee Ratnakar Joshi.
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