Kottayam: The KSRTC bus stand in Kottayam, the most important town in Central Travancore, is supposed to be fully functional round-the-clock, with passengers arriving and departing for business, employment, tourism, religious, cultural and personal matters all the time. However, what awaits them after nightfall is a shocking state of affairs.
Instead of a ‘shubha yatra,’ passengers undergo an ordeal through hell. With few lights around, the bus stand building and premises plunge into darkness at night, making things easy for anti-social elements. Street dogs roam freely around the area, spreading panic among passengers. All the seats and benches meant for passengers would be encroached upon by ‘regular sleepers’. The worst cut comes from the police, whose aid post is deserted at night and patrolling is virtually absent.
Recently, drunks too have invaded the bus stand and common areas are taken over by vendors and people engaged in various agitations, leaving passengers with virtually no space to wait for buses. If some passenger decided to complain, he would find that no senior KSRTC official would be on duty at night to hear him. Even the enquiry counter is closed at night and passengers have no means of knowing when buses for their destinations would arrive.
Earlier, a 24-hour announcement counter used to function at Kottayam bus stand, but now it closes by 10 pm. As a result, passengers would be deprived of the only illumination in the building.
Most pathetic is the condition of passengers heading to Ernakulam. After 11.15 pm, there are no services to the major city till 3.45 am. A large number of people reach the premises during these hours intending to board buses to Ernakulam side, but when their wait gets longer, they vent their ire on whichever KSRTC staff passing by. KSRTC employees also support the demand for making the enquiry counter functional round the clock, but are helpless.
The management is of the view that KSRTC inspectors should man the counter and voluntarily take up the duty. With no firm action coming from the official side in this regard, passengers are left to fret and fume every time they reach the bus stand at night.
More danger awaits passengers behind the bus stand building. With construction work going on, building materials are piled up in the area and several pits have been dug for the purpose. With no illumination, even the lives of passengers are at risk at night.
Another threat to the safety and security passengers comes from the wayside eateries opening at night, which have turned a haunt of anti-social elements. It is alleged that even after several complaints, neither are police patrol vehicles covering the area nor sufficient police officials posted in the bus stand at night.
Read: Kottayam News | Kerala News
