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RTC bus station deprived of basic amenities
Highlights
Commuters, who arrive at the RTC bus stand, have been deprived of basic amenities. Water taps, which are supposed to provide water to passengers, have become defunct. Adding insult to injury, there is no canteen to buy mineral water.
Water taps have become defunct; Police outpost closed a few years ago; No canteen in the bus stand
Chittoor: Commuters, who arrive at the RTC bus stand, have been deprived of basic amenities. Water taps, which are supposed to provide water to passengers, have become defunct. Adding insult to injury, there is no canteen to buy mineral water.
The RTC officials allowed commercial shops to come up near platforms against the rules. Shops have become hindrance for free movement of passengers. The officials concerned have not taken up Swachh Bharat drive on the bus stand premises till now, it is learnt.
It may be recalled that the then Chief Minister NT Rama Rao had laid foundation stone for Chittoor Bus Station Complex on September 15, 1988. His son and the then Transport Minister N Harikrishna inaugurated the bus stand on December 28, 1995. Later, the RTC officials have upgraded the bus stand to 30 platforms at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore to accommodate more buses and it was also expanded for setting up of 30 commercial shops. However, several shops are lying vacant for the past several years amounting to loss of Rs 10 lakh per annum to the RTC.
In order to ensure protection to the passengers, a police outpost was set up here in which two policemen were posted to assist the passengers. But, the police have withdrawn the outpost from the bus stand without any reason. In the absence of policemen, anti-social elements are using bus stand for their illegal activities. Bus stand is without police outpost for the past six years.
The RTC officials have failed to meet basic requirement of running a canteen on the bus stand premises. Passengers are forced to depend on stalls located outside the bus stand for their requirement. Announcement of bus arrivals and departures on public address system has been discontinued despite bus station here is being the junction point for the RTC buses belonging to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. More than 12,000 buses from various districts in AP and from other States arrive and depart every day. Speaking to The Hans India, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager KV Krishna Rao admitted that several shops are lying vacant in the bus stand as there is no demand from the public. Krishna Rao said bidders are not interested to participate in the auction for the shops. He said instructions were given to Chittoor Depot Manager to take effective measures for improving the facilities in the bus stand.
The RTC officials promised to take measures for resuming the police outpost in the bus station at the earliest. He added that sanitation works in the bus stand has been outsourced to a private agency. He informed that the agency would be instructed to take up sanitation works in the bus stand on a regular basis. Rao further said that he would take steps for evicting all the centrally located shops in the bus station after their contract period comes to an end.
C Prabhakar Rao
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