Bathinda ISBT a perfect case of apathy

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 27

Planning to board a bus to travel to or from Bathinda? Prepare to brave strong stench emanating from urinals and garbage dumps, stray cattle either roaming around leisurely or basking in the sun at the Bathinda bus stand. Your visit to the place may also make you miss having a private vehicle to travel. Despite the fact that thousands of passengers use the bus stand every day, the place seems to be a perfect case of apathy of the government department concerned.

Besides buses parked at the whim and fancy of drivers, at times even PRTC pensioners holding dharna inside the terminus, bigger problems such as stinking or non-functional washrooms, uneven and potholed ground, stray cattle roaming inside the stand and heaps of garbage have become characteristics of the place.

Busy with their routine work, the authorities appear to have put the task of providing basic facilities such as water and clean washrooms to public on the back burner. While the number of passengers boarding buses from the terminus has been steadily increasing owing to the increasing limits and population of the city, the public utilities have remained the same or have even dwindled for want of maintenance.

The authorities may be busy passing the buck to the government for delaying the construction of the new air-conditioned bus stand on Bibiwala Road, but passengers are a harried lot.

“Besides the bad condition of basic facilities at the bus stand, the authorities also do not care about implementing rules and regulations when it comes to eatables and other items inside the bus stand.

Authorised shopkeepers and vendors selling packaged food items and water bottles are openly flouting the norms pertaining to selling items at the printed price only,” said Kiranpreet Kaur, a resident of Nathana.

“If the authorities find it difficult to maintain the bus stand, they must join hands with NGOs to launch a sanitation drive at the bus stand as it is frequented by thousands of people everyday and the health authorities should pay special attention to the place to make sure that the unhygienic condition does not cause health problems to passengers,” said Karan Bhateja, a resident of Bathinda.

The drinking water area is hardly cleaned. Either there are no taps, or taps are leaking or pipes have been stuffed with pieces of clothes to stop wastage of water or clubbed with plastic bottle and other items by mischievous persons.

PRTC officials at the bus stand said the contract for maintenance and cleanliness of the bus stand was given to Sulabh International firm.

As per information, the firm is paid and its functioning is overseen by the PRTC’s head office in Patiala. The PRTC officials added that since the firm reported to the head office, there was little the bus stand authorities could do in the matter. “Employees of the firm clean and sweep the bus stand frequently but due to heavy footfall, the place gets dirty quickly. The garbage is dumped in one of the corners of the bus stand from where the MCB workers pick up the garbage. The public coming to the bus stand must also do its bit in keeping the bus stand clean and not trash the place with plastic and empty bottles,” said a PRTC official.