Indian
Express: Mumbai: Thursday, October 25, 2012.
A day after a
shed at a bus stop close to PMC headquarters in Shivajingar crashed barely
three minutes after around 50 commuters had left the stop by two buses, the
Newsline team found out that many bus stops in the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad
are in a very bad shape. In many cases, rust had corroded metal structures and
the base of the pillars had become weak, ready to fall anytime.
Jugal Rathi
of PMP Pravasi Manch said PMPML is aware of the fact that bus stops are in bad
condition. In an RTI reply to his queries, said Rathi, PMPML has conceded that
of the 5,000 bus stops across PMC and PCMC limits, only 1,200 have proper
sheds. “Of the 5,000 bus stops, only 200 have seating arrangements and could be
called commuter-friendly. The rest are ill-kept and dangerous. This came to
light during our survey,” he said.
PMPML
officials, on condition of anonymity, said some bus stops are in a worse
condition than the one that collapsed near PMC. A PMPML official said, “Most of
the bus stops that are in bad state were constructed over seven years ago on a
BOT basis and carry advertisement boxes on top. The contractor was given the
rights to advertisements for seven years after which the bus stops were to be
handed over to PMPML.”
The official
said 85 bus stops have been handed over so far. “Around 30 more would be handed
over soon. Rust has made the base of many of these metal bus stops weak. The
drive to demolish such bus stops is on. We have so far removed over 20 bus
stops in different parts of the city,” the official said.
When contacted,
PMPML spokesperson Deepak Pardeshi conceded that PMPML has 5,000 bus stops and
only over 1,000 have proper sheds. “We are in the process of providing proper
sheds. The tender process is already under way. I can't give the exact deadline
when the work will start, but it should start anytime,” he said.
PMPML
officials said within two weeks, they would be floating a tender for
construction of 1,019 new bus stops in the city. “We have finalised the spots
where the bus stops are required. The present bus stops are constructed either
by PMPML or through BOT basis. Many are in bad condition. Once the tender
process is done, all old bus stops that are in bad condition would be replaced
with new ones,” he said.
Officials
said the new stops would have life of over 25 years. “The design of the new
stops would be based on the ones used by BEST in Mumbai. It will have better
seating arrangement, lights and would be theft proof,” they added.
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