Hyderabad: While city bus shelters sport flashy posters of the Chief Minister advertising pet projects like Haritha Haram, Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha, they are mostly filthy and have broken benches.
Commuters though have at least, the CM’s posters to thank for providing illumination at night.
The city has 1,900 bus stops but only 900 shelters. And the GHMC continues to make money out of these commercial posters on top of the shelters but does not monitor the shelters’ maintenance.
“My office is on the Bowenpally-Medchal road and I board the bus at the Maruti showroom bus stand at Bowenpally. The bus shelter is so dirty that one cannot even stand near it, leave alone sitting on the seats. During the rains it becomes worse, especially for women commuters. The bus shelter is occupied by beggars and stray dogs,” said M. Sai Prasanna, of Bowenpally.
Another commuter, Kavitha Samuel, added, “The bus shelter next to the Begumpet fire station has a broken roof, water seeps through it whenever it rains.
Of the two shelters, one has become a home for beggars, their belongings are dumped on the broken benches; it is the same at the L.V. Prasad Eye Hospital bus stop. Commuters are forced to stand on the road for buses.
It’s the same for bus shelters from Nampally-Red Hills to Mehdi-patnam, Dilsukhnagar and Tank Bund, while Rasoolpura still awaits a shelter.
