The Kadamba bus station at Margao has gone from bad to worse in recent years. The garbage collected from shops and stalls in the premises of the bus station is being dumped into an open area at present which is ruining the impression of the town and the only bus station in Salcete taluka.
The Kadamba bus station is the centre of South Goa’s public transport and receives the entire load of private and Kadamba buses. Thousands of travellers and tourists travel from this bus station to Panjim, Canacona, other parts of Goa and even to metro cities of India. KTC Margao brings in a lot of tourists who prefer to have light snacks or tea while they are waiting at the bus station. Sadly, there is no facility for garbage dumping within the premises or at the stalls. As a result, all the garbage in the form of cups and plastic wrappers is dumped in the corners of the bus sheds and is later swept away by some workers and taken away. Surprisingly, all this garbage is taken and dumped in the open space besides the tourist bus stop and then incinerated later. The process of incineration of garbage causes severe air pollution in the area and also damages the soil.
The stalls at the Kadamba bus station on the Osia multiplex side also dump their garbage behind in the open field adding to the woes.
A brief history of the Kadamba bus station shows that what we call a bus station today is actually a bus shed which was constructed in the year 1992. 24 years have elapsed and KTC Margao is now visited by several domestic and international tourists. This bus shed lacks the most basic facilities for sanitation and garbage collection.
GoaCAN has been organizing several activities for cleaning of the bus station and has also filed several complaints at the District Administration level. Convenor of GoaCAN, Roland Martin said, “The problem is that there is a shed which is considered to be a bus station. In the last District Consumer Protection meeting, all the issues were told to the collector in detail. An ad-hoc arrangement cannot be judged and if there has to be a resolution then there should be a combined effort from the MMC and the authority so that the solution is permanent.”
“We’re not saying a new bus station should be built. However, the bare minimum facilities have to be created in the form of garbage bins at strategic locations. These dustbins have to be kept at every stall at the bus station and also at the Bombay bus stop on the side of the shed,” Roland suggested.
The KTC bus station is presently leaving an impression to the tourists of being the filthiest in South Goa and the menace is ever increasing. The trees alongside the KTC depot have grown above the limit and are creating a lot of nuisance on the streets.
The KTC bus station is in need of a complete overhaul as bus stations in Cuncolim and Canacona have been renovated a long time back but the South district junction hasn’t seen the light of development.
Former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat is a Margao man through and through and for the last several years, an active MLA of Fatorda who is active on all fronts has failed to have an impact on development work at the site. Sadly, other than the foundation stone of the KTC laid by Kamat in 2011, which apparently had no financial sanction, not much has been done for improvement by any of the local leaders.
