All is not well at Vaeinthankulam new bus stand

Time has come for Corporation officials to crack the whip against the traders, who have encroached at will all the platforms of the recently renovated Vaeinthaankulam new bus stand.

Time has come for Corporation officials to crack the whip against the traders, who have encroached at will all the platforms of the recently renovated Vaeinthaankulam new bus stand.

 Traders who have their shops in all the six platforms of the bus stand have encroached upon the walkers’ path for preparing and displaying their snacks or fruits. Consequently, the passengers have been left with very little space to move around. Children, senior citizens and women carrying little ones along with their baggage suffer a lot due to these encroachments.

 Another major issue is the nauseating smell that emanates from the gutters that are almost clogged with waste mixed with stagnant oily sewer.

 “Since the traders clean their shops at the night, they sweep the waste water into the channels meant for draining rainwater. This sticky water with oil, on mixing up with other waste that are discarded in the bus stand, clogs the free flow of water. Even though the channels have been partially closed to enable periodic cleaning of the storm water channel, it is not done properly. And, the stagnant waster stinks and waiting for a bus in the bus-stand even for a few minutes becomes intolerable,” says B. Ramasubramnaian, a private firm employee who catches a bus here every day to reach his workplace in Thoothukudi.

 The passengers also complain about the cleanliness of the ‘pay and use toilets’ in the bus stand. “Most of the time, they collect excess money for using the toilets… But they don’t maintain it properly,” complain the passengers.