PRATIK PARAB
pratik@herald-goa.com
The Margao town is considered to be the commercial capital of Goa. The town has earned the title for many reasons. Biggest Market, Airport on 20 kms, affordable travelling on a railway within a kilometre, and rightly located at the centre of the State with easy accessibility has earned the town the title of Commercial capital. With the adding tourist influx, the problem of maintenance and up-keeping of the town infrastructure has also risen multiple times.
The Margao Kadamba bus stand receives 100’s of Mumbai-Goa, Pune-Goa and other luxury buses every day. The problem of garbage dumped by buses and passengers of these inter-state buses is becoming a major problem at the KTC bus stand.
All the garbage of the passengers from the bus is picked from the bus and dumped outside the bus with little regards to keeping the areas clean. The garbage in the form of cups and plastic wrappers is dumped on the ground where buses are parked and later swept by some workers and taken away. Surprisingly the entire garbage is taken and dumped in the open space besides the tourist bus stop and later burnt.
The inter-state luxury buses which come to Goa reach Margao as their last stop. These buses reach in the morning and are parked till evening after which they leave at 6, 7 & 8 pm for their destinations. For the entire day the drivers, cleaners and utility staff of the bus bathe in the open, wash clothes in the open, consume alcohol and dump all the garbage in the open. They also grease the parts of the bus and dump cotton waste in the open and also without any check whatsoever.
This irresponsible and lacklustre attitude of even the local authorities has created a space full of filth and dirt. “The Margao Municipality since it has the powers has to keep an eye on these acts and has to take action on the basis of powers vested with them,” said a local Venky Damu Naik.
It is also learnt that the decommissioned or unused buses at the stand area are being used to store inflammable fuel. The recent incident of an abandoned bus catching fire revealed that fuel was being stored in the bus. The people operating businesses on the stand have demanded that these things be put in place immediately.
GoaCAN has been filing several complaints at the District Administration level and also to the KTC. Convenor of GoaCAN Roland Martins says “There is a need to relook into the complete strategy of keeping these bus stands and public places clean as it is a matter of carelessness on the part of the beneficiaries of the bus stand,” he said.
After an earlier published article on Herald the Governor of Goa had issued a notice to the Additional Collector South to report on the same and later sought compliance. The entire essence of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is being lost at the base levels of public places.
The KTC bus stand is presently leaving an impression to the tourists of being the filthiest bus stand in South Goa and the menace is ever increasing. The trees alongside the KTC depot have grown above the limit and are creating lots of mess besides the streets.
The KTC bus stand is in need of a complete overhaul as bus stands in Cuncolim and Canacona have been renovated long time back but the South district junction hasn’t seen the light of development.
