Public buses crawling on Margao’s roads right under the nose of the enforcing agencies is there for all to see. And, it’s not uncommon to find buses making unauthorised halts at the whims and fancies of the bus drivers, especially along the route from the KTC bus stand to Margao Comunidade building.
Officials admit in private that a bus leaving the KTC bus stand should not take more than 10 minutes to reach the Comunidade building near the Margao Municipal building. But, the ground reality appears totally different. Unauthorised halts appeared more of a rule than an exception in the commercial capital.
Officially, a bus is authorised to make just two halts along the KTC-Comunidade building route – at the Holy Spirit Church square and Hospicio. Again, buses proceeding down south are expected to only make a halt after the flyover. In reality, buses stop where they please every time the conductor blows his whistle.
To overcome the problem and to curb unauthorised bus stops across the town, the traffic and transport officials had compiled a comprehensive report on bus stops and halts to rid the town of unauthorised halts. Sadly, it’s a year now since the report was submitted to the South Goa district Collector for notification and action, but not a single bus stop recommended by the agencies stands notified till date.
The report has now been returned to the RTO office, Margao and is gathering dust for want of further action.
When Herald contacted Assistant Director of Transport, Margao, Sandeep Desai, to shed light on the report on the city bus stops, he said the report is awaiting action from the district Collector.
“The report was returned to the RTO office. We are sending the report back to the district Collector for necessary action”, he said.
Both, the RTO and the Traffic police, say the notification of the bus stops, halts and bus bays would help the enforcement agencies to crack a whip against buses making unauthorised stops, especially along the busy routes.
