Kochi: The Kochi Corporation on Tuesday issued a notice to Pratheeksha Bus Shelters Kerala Ltd (PBSKL), a subsidiary of the PWD, asking it to demolish the 'illegal' bus shelters constructed at the south railway station bus stop.
The action comes following a report in the Deccan Chronicle on August 1 titled 'Bus shelters mushroom in city' about the multiple bus shelters there set up for grabbing advertisement revenue.
"It was found that the PBSKL constructed two new bus shelters before the Ernakulam Girls High School (south junction). However, the road there is maintained by the Kochi Corporation and even as per the government order during the tenure of the previous government, the PWD wing could construct bus shelters only on roads maintained by it," said Deputy Mayor T.J. Vinod.
"We sent a notice to the PBSKL to demolish the bus shelters there since the road is maintained by the corporation," he said.
The PBSKL has so far constructed bus shelters at nine bus stops in the city after forming a special purpose vehicle through a government order in 2013. It targets to construct a total of 34 bus shelters in Kochi city.
The two new bus shelters have proved to be of no use to the commuters. "The buses still halt 100 metres ahead of the bus shelters in front of the school gate and the commuters remain crowded there," a teacher of the school said.
When contacted, the managing partner of an advertising agency which has taken the sub-lease contract from PBSKL, clarified, "except for the ones at the south station, all others are clearly on the roads maintained by the PWD. The one at south is still in dispute since it was built after wrongly considering the stretch to be PWD road at the time of the company formation in 2013," he said.
