Bus stops in Dwarka suffering from administrative apathy

Recently, with the visit of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Dwarka for inauguration of a bus depot and announcement of addition of new cluster buses to the fleet of DTC in the National Capital held out a ray of hope for the community that the public transport system would be improved. But, looking at the condition of the bus stops and the callous approach of the authorities to it in Dwarka, it can be said that there is lot to do in this direction. 

Damaged roof, hanging iron sheets, cracked surface and leaking shelters in rain tell it all about sincerity of the authorities in providing the commuters a safe and secure mode of transport. 

A sharp edged iron sheet can be seen hanging from the bus que shelter on a Sector 3 on road poses a threat to the lives of the commuters. Not only this, the roof of the shelter is also badly damaged and open from one side. 

Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Sector 3, said, “The shelter is in that state since the rainy season. But no from the authorities came forward to fix it.” 

He concurred that the iron sheet hanging from the stop was indeed quite dangerous and needs to be either removed or fixed. 

Pointing out that office of the area MLA, Gulab Singh Yadav, is just a kilometre away from the stop, he said, “He (the MLA) too does not seem to be bothered about the condition of the bus stop.”

This is not a one off case. At many places the designated bus stop is either missing or encroached upon by vehicles parked around them. In place of missing shelters there are small sign boards on stamp poles especially at dividers to indicate that they are bus stands. Since these boards are not easily visible, bus drivers do not care to stop at the bus stops.  

Bus stops along various DTC routes are missing. For instance, bus stops on the route from Uttam Nagar to Gurgaon covering Sector 22 and 23 are missing at a stretch from Sector 9 to Sector 23. Similarly, on the route of RL 75, bus stops are missing at Sector 13 and 14. At many places, the bus stops have been marked by a small board hanging on any pole at central verge on Master Plan Roads across Dwarka.

In a situation, commuters find it difficult to ascertain where to stand in waiting for the buses. Most of the time, they find themselves confused asking bystanders about the exact location of the bus stops. Many times on the initiatives of the commuters and follow-up of social organisations and RWAs, the authorities took the matter into consideration, but did nothing to resolve the issue. 

People say that whatever be the bus routes, the DTC should have made the whole infrastructure perfect so that commuters could use the service to its optimum level.

On the other hand, on some of the Dwarka routes, like RL75 and RL77, bus queue shelters were constructed by the authority along the Master Plan Road 202. But, these shelters are always surrounded by vehicles parked on the roads near the markets around Ashirvad Chowk and Sector 6 and Sector 10. In such a situation, drivers often prefer to stop the bus in the middle of the road. 

Sunita Gupta, a resident of Sector 9, said, “The authorities should ensure that bus queue shelters are free from encroachment so that buses could stop at their proper place. It’s unfortunate that no one takes care of such things. If the infrastructure is there, it must be used.”

CitySpidey tried to contact MLA Matiala, Gulab Singh Yadav for his comment on the sorry state of bus stops in the locality, but he was not available.