PONDA: The shed at Ponda’s KTC bus stand has finally got a new coat of paint after much hue and cry by commuters, but major renovation work, including the installation of roofing sheets on the structure and asphalting the road leading to the bus stand remain pending.
In April, Herald had reported that the Ponda bus stand had been in a decrepit condition for the past year and didn’t even have a decent shed for commuters. While renovation of the existing, dilapidated shed was later ambitiously taken up and scheduled to be completed before the monsoon, work has progressed at a snail’s pace, exposing people to the wrath of the summer sun.
With just eight days left for rains to hit the state, commuters now hope that the government completes work on a war footing so that they get shelter at least from the driving rain.
Last year, the government had declared that the ramshackle shed at the bus stand was unsafe. It thereafter appointed a contractor to renovate the area. The roofing sheets were removed and work on building a better shed began even as officials estimated that it would be complete in all respects within a year.
But business operators at the bus stand said that while the authorities have cleaned the bus parking bays, major works – particularly tarring of the parking bays and the roads to the bus stand – remain pending. The entry and exit roads to the stand are presently riddled with potholes, they said.
