Kozhikode: There has been an acute shortage of buses plying between Kozhikode and Sulthan Bathery at night during the last few weeks. There is no specified time schedule after 9 p.m. and there are days when passengers have to wait up to three hours for a bus, it is said. “On Saturday, after 9 p.m. the next bus to Sulthan Bathery came only at 12 midnight, that too a long- distance bus from Pala which came packed,” said Sunil K. Faizal of Cheeral, Sulthan Bathery.
“After the closure of Kozhikode-Kollegal national highway for night traffic, there has been a sudden fall in the number of buses plying through Sulthan Bathery,” he said and added that the KSRTC was yet to take any steps to ensure sufficient buses on the route during night. Mr T.M. Rasheed, convener of the the Nilgiri-Wayanad national highway and railway action committee, told DC that the step-motherly attitude to Sulthan Bathery was there for quite some time.
“It is the duty of the government that has failed to reopen the highway for night traffic to ensure sufficient services to Sulthan Bathery and Pulppalli,” he added. “While there are sufficient services to Mananathavadi as the long-distance buses to Bangalore and Mysore ply through the route during night, there is none to Sulthan Bathery after 9 p.m. starting from the Kozhikode station except the Bangalore Super Express which would be fully reserved much in advance,” he added.
It may be recalled that Mr Manoj Kumar Meena, Chamaraj Nagar district collector in Karnataka, had passed the ban orders on ‘night traffic’ through NH 212 (Gundelpett-Sulthan Bathery Road) and NH 67 (Gundelpett-Ootty Road), both passing through the Bandipur sanctuary, on June 3, 2009.
