Almost over a thousand people pass through the capital city’s main KTC bus stand on a daily basis. Being centrally located the KTC bus stand serves as a connecting hub for the people travelling throughout the state and the other parts of the country.
But with hundreds of buses plying to and from it, the infrastructure as well as the basic facilities likes toilets, pure drinking water and dustbins missing. This issue is quite serious and needs immediate attention.
As Herald visited the KTC bus stand in Panjim, it was seen that most of the people would just urinate in the open stretches and also in the bushes, thus causing inconvenience to the commuters forcing them to inhale the bad odour.
Local commuters have told Herald that non-availability of proper toilet facilities forces them to urinate in the open. Locals also have pointed out that the Sulabh pay toilets are in worst conditions, with no proper sanitation and are in unhygienic conditions.
“I always use my handkerchief while entering the bus stand, because I can’t take in the bad smell. On one hand the government is talking of open defecation-free Goa, but here there are no proper facilities,” said Anish Shinkre, a local resident.
It has also been revealed by some of the commuters that sulabh toilets are not being used because of their unhygienic conditions and also not maintained properly. This is the main reason people prefer to urinate outside in the open
“KTC bus stand is the largest in Goa and mostly used by travellers. What a shame it has no proper toilet facilities. The government has to do a complete makeover of this bus stand with ultra modern facilities. The past governments have concentrated only on modern bus terminals in interior places of Goa of which 90 per cent have become ghost bus stands,” said a local resident of Caranzalem.
Women commuters have also told Herald that Sulabh pay toilets at the bus stand mostly run with no water most of the time and have expressed dissatisfaction as the condition of these toilets is worst.
Another local resident Darshan Sardesai had to say this “Locals are not the only ones who suffer but tourists who use the bus terminal for travelling around places also take bad memories with them. The stink is non-bearable which in turn, leads the people to urinate in the public.”
The facility at the Panjim bus stand sets up a bad example the moment an outsider steps down from the bus. The bad odour greets them. “Goa, being an international tourist destination, should be projected in a good way,” said irked locals, who were present at the bus stand.
The people have demanded that the Kadamba bus terminus should be upgraded to the latest standards with proper toilet facilities. “Goa being an international tourist destination should match itself with other cities in the world,” demanded the locals.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has said that Goa is most likely to forbid open defecation in future, stating that Goa has the best naturalistic environment and its potential as a tourist destination has very good scope to keep the land much cleaner.
“There are a lot of places in Goa, where toilets are yet to be built and once that is complete, open defecation in Goa can be banned in the near future,” Parsekar said in his speech on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti
“The government will soon install toilet facilities at the KTC bus stand in Panjim, under the Amrut and Swachh Bharat scheme, which will nearly put an end to this problem,” said Surendra Furtado, Mayor, Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP).
