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Tribhuvan Kushwaha, convenor of Bus Stand Sangharsh Committee, alleges that this facility built at a cost of crores has now become just a symbol of government negligence. He said that he also went on a hunger strike to ensure that buses operate from the bus stand, but only assurance was received. Due to lack of maintenance for years, it has become dilapidated and now after repair…
Katihar: First of all, after a long wait, development works take place in people’s areas, districts and cities. Even worse happens when money is spent on projects like schools, hospitals, colleges and bus stands and these buildings are never used and stand in ruins. A similar development work took place years ago in Katihar, Bihar. A modern bus stand was built on 10 acres of land in Katihar at a cost of about Rs 5 crore. Today this bus stand itself is raising questions on its plight. This bus stand was inaugurated online by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on 24 December 2016 with the aim of relieving the city from jams and providing better facilities to the passengers.
The people of the city had great hope from this bus stand that Katihar would get a modern and well-organized transport facility. The reality turned out to be exactly the opposite. Eight years have passed since it was built and yet not a single bus could start operating from here. The situation is such that today the Municipal Corporation is dumping garbage at the place where there were to be arrangements for seating for passengers, ticket counter parking and modern facilities. City garbage is being dumped here every day. Instead of making people’s transportation simple and easy, this bus stand is spreading the smell of garbage to the people. People nearby are falling ill due to its smell.
The grills of the ticket counter built at a cost of lakhs in the bus stand complex have been broken, the doors have been eaten away by termites and the bathrooms and toilets have become unusable. Bushes growing everywhere, fallen walls and broken structures have now turned this big project into ruins. Tribhuvan Kushwaha, convenor of Bus Stand Sangharsh Committee, alleges that this facility built at a cost of crores has now become just a symbol of government negligence.
He said that he also went on a hunger strike to ensure that buses operate from the bus stand, but only assurance was received. Due to lack of maintenance for years, it has become dilapidated and now operation has been said to be possible only after repair. On the other hand, thousands of passengers are still forced to travel through temporary bus stands and buses parked on the roadside. There is neither shed nor toilet for their convenience. Due to this, people have to struggle with water in rainy season, scorching sun in summer and cold winds in winter. Local people demand that bus operations should be started from the bus stand as soon as possible.
