PRATIK PARAB
pratik@herald-goa.com
The Kadamba Bus Depot of Margao may soon earn a name for being the worst maintained and most ignored Government facility of Goa.
The condition of the depot is deteriorating so much every passing day that the canteen at the Margao Bus Depot was sealed off by the Food and Drugs Administration for having violated hygiene and health parameters. Recently a piece of the ceiling slab inside the depot gave way and collapsed in a passage. Though no one was hurt in this incident the cameras clicked some horrifying images of the depot from inside.
The incident happened near the rest room of the KTC drivers and conductors on Friday morning last week. Several drivers and conductors, who are on inter-state buses and also those who make trips at night take a break in order to relax in the restroom. The canteen, accounts section, traffic section are in this very block of KTC.
The poor drivers and conductors were taken by surprise after the slab collapsed. When Herald Team visited the depot and checked rest room it was seen that there are no beds or mattresses for these employees of the corporation. Most of them sleep on the floor.
Later some of the drivers informed the Herald Team that the toilets too are in a bad condition. An employee, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The toilet in the rains is a lake, the slab pieces collapse at a much faster rate in the rains. There is no respite from this condition.” Even the canteen, which provided some food to the drivers and conductors residing in the depot was closed down by the FDA for having violated the health and hygiene norms.
It may be recalled that the then Chief Minister of Goa Pratapsingh Raoji Rane had inaugurated this Kadamba depot in 1986. Thirty-three years down the line, not one chairman or any official has bothered to repair or restore this building. The employees here revealed that the slab pieces have been collapsing constantly here exposing the metal structure inside. “None of the senior officers bother to pay heed to the state of the depot,” said another employee.
The block at KTC houses 250 to 300 employees at a time in a day. There are no lockers, cupboards, drinking water, bed, mattress, hangers for clothes/uniforms and other basic facilities. The employees informed that after the FDA sealed off the canteen they have been forced to buy food from outside and at timed are forced to sleep without on an empty stomach.
The Depot Manager, Roque Luis, he asked the reporters to speak to their liaison officer Sanjay Ghate. Ghate, in turn, told the media to speak to the Panjim Head office to get reactions and information on the condition of the depot.
Some of the photographs of the bus depot are so bad that they had to be held back from publication. Will the authorities now wake up and improve this depot of the state transport corporation is the question that remains to be answered.
