Vadodara: The pickup stand for Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) buses at Amitnagar Circle, which was relocated to Sama six years ago, has been shifted back and reopened on the occasion of Labh Pancham, i.e., Wednesday. With the reopening of this bus stand, people traveling to Ahmedabad and other locations will no longer need to go to Sama.

GSRTC had recently proposed relocating the pickup stand, which had been operating near Sama Lake for the past six years, back to its original location near Amitnagar Circle. The initial proposal was presented at a meeting of the Road Safety Council. GSRTC also informed the Collector, State Government, and City Police Commissioner about the relocation. The site near Amitnagar Circle was surveyed by City Police Commissioner Narasimha Komar before the operation began at this location.

Six years ago, on February 25, 2018, Het Chauhan, an eighth-grade student at Ambe Vidyalaya, passed away after being hit by an ST bus. The student had been on his way to school for a cyclothon organized by the school when the accident occurred. The accident followed a protest, after which the pickup stand was moved from Amitnagar Circle to Sama Lake. Now, after six years, 800 ST buses traveling from Amitnagar Circle to Ahmedabad and South and North Gujarat will once again stop at the original location. The ST authorities have promised that passengers will not have to wait long.

Meanwhile, Senior Divisional Traffic Officer M.K. Damor stated that 40 special ST buses will run from Amitnagar to Ahmedabad (CTM).

An army of traffic and GSRTC officials was deployed when the pickup stand resumed operations from Labhpancham near Amitnagar Circle. As a result, vans were no longer seen illegally handling passengers on Wednesday. However, since traffic and ST officials are not always present, traffic issues may resurface if vans illegally crowd the area again. DeshGujarat