The 47 year old bus stand at Nedumanagadu
Feb 29, 2012
Nedumangadu, situated 18 kilometers from Trivandrum, is the headquarters of Nedumangadu Taluk and is a major commercial hub of the region. Situated at the base of the Western Ghats, the town provides a vital link for many of the remote villages in the area with the capital city. Yet, in terms of infrastructure development, Nedumangadu still lags way behind its requirements. The KSRTC bus stand at Nedumangadu reflects the plight of this municipality in all its dimensions.
Despite the apparent importance of the region and the bus stand, both for the people and KSRTC, the bus stand remains a victim of neglect from the concerned authorities. The buildings, facilities and design of the bus station have remained more or less the same even after 47 years. A project of Rs. 8 crores, to rebuild the stand, complete with a shopping complex, was inaugurated one year ago, on February 16, 2011. One year later, the inaugural stone lies safely concealed within the union room and the bus stand continues to exist in the same old decrepit condition.
The Nedumangadu bus stand is situated in an area of three acres. It has been ages since the yard road inside the station compound got all of its tar stripped due to the lack of timely maintenance work. The waiting shed is dilapidated and inadequate to accommodate the thousands of passengers who use the bus stand on a daily basis. Of the 65 buses that commence and end their service at the stand, 25 of them are way past their prime. The lack of adequate spare parts in the rickety, leaking workshop within the bus stand worsens the matter. Because of the low quality of the buses, the number of operated schedules among the overall 65 get limited daily to around 55. There are 2 super fast services and 10 fast passenger services operating from here. The rest belong to the 'ordinary' category.
Other than one daily service each to Palakkad, Thrissur, Chakkulathukavu and Eranakulam, the rest of the operated services are meant for the convenience of the people of the adjoining remote areas. As is obvious from the listed facts, the majority of the people who are dependent on Nedumangadu bus stand belong to the low income group, a group which isn't given even proper toilet facilities at the bus stand. There is no generator facility either in the bus stand, which means that in the event of a power failure, the entire place is to remain in darkness till the power comes back, providing a haven for miscreants to carry out their unpalatable activities.
Before the year 2000, there was a total of 92 schedules operating from here, and had 108 buses in service. But post 2000, the new bus stands that came up at Vithura, Aryanad, Vellanad, Venjaramoodu and Kaniyapuram have robbed the Nedumangadu stand from many of its vital services. But the collection rate is still running high even though illegal parallel services eats into 10% of the gross collection from the stand. Nedumangadu is also supposed to be a town with no private bus services, atleast inside town limits. The ten-plus private services that do operate in the area have their route limited to Pazhakutty Junction, outside town limits. Yet it is a common sight to see every one of these buses entering the town area, passing right in front of the vigilant eyes of law officials, collecting passengers and leaving on their daily run.
Tenders has been issued for rebuilding the almost half a century old bus stand. The delay is being caused by the inability of finding a suitable place to shift the operational activities of the existing bus stand to some other place on a temporary basis. Officials at the bus stand express their hopes of getting the job done at the earliest and have the present bus stand rebuilt and updated to meet the present day demands of a public bus stand.
However, for now, it seems that the daily commuters, a bulk of them students, have no other choice but to cope up with the neglect and dilapidation suffered by the bus stand for sometime more...
