After a decade of being synonymous with muck, filth and passenger woes, the newly constructed Birsa Munda Bus Terminus at Khadgarha is open but not ‘ready to use’. Chief Minister Raghubar Das inaugurated the much-awaited bus terminus on November 13 with fanfare but with a lot of work pending at the site, the inter-state junction for buses seems to be as filthy and chaotic as it used to be a couple of months back.
The mess is worsened with recent additions of the drainage system work that has left the entire place dug up. Even basic amenities such as the lavatories and drinking water remain inaccessible for passengers here.
Unfortunately, all the ticket and enquiry counters remain vacant, lavatories locked and the path to the dormitories blocked by bamboo poles. Moreover, the parking lot that was supposed to host about 100 vehicles at a time as per the construction plan seems to be missing. Also, the sewage and drainage system work is in progress that has dug up the bus terminus on all three sides only adding to the passengers woes.
Birsa Munda bus stand is the main inter-state bus terminus in the entire state where from buses bound for Tata, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Durgapur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Chaibasa, Patna, Gaya and more, originate and arrive from.
Residents of Darbhanga district, Ashish Kumar and Sanu Kumari wanted to reach Kolkata safely, if not at ease. “We expected the lavatories to be open and the taps at the drinking wzater section to be running at least. We have been forced to use the dirty pay and use toilets for the past three hours. Our bus will leave in another five hours. There are no hotels, rest rooms, or even clean food joints nearby.”
It’s not only trying for the commuters here, even the drivers and conductors seem to face similar issues. Bus Conductor of Vijay Rath Travels, Raj Ranawat blamed the authorities for their haplessness. When accused of congesting the main road outside the bus terminus at Kantatoli, Ranawat said, “The road that leads to this terminus is broken and dirty. Passengers who arrive here in our state for the first time find it absolutely confusing to locate the place. We tend to miss out on passengers and have to stop at the corner to pick up passengers so that the buses plying at such long distances do not run into losses.”
“This terminus has been inaugurated but will take quite some time before it starts functioning. Only the basic infrastructure is complete and few important things need to be fixed, yet,” said Site-In-Charge, RS Aggrawal Infratech Private limited, Sanjay Singh. RS Aggrawal Infratech is the executing agency for the bus terminus. Notably, the Khadgarha bus stand was caught up in issues such as funds crunch, red tape and clash of interest for over a decade. The state-of-the art bus terminus, a Ranchi Municipal corporation project was earlier the responsibility of the Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA), who seemed to have cared not too much to ensure the project saw the light of day.
However, Mayor Asha lakra said, “The bus terminus is yet not ready because few paper work such as contract papers, tenders and others is still in progress. We would even take time to recruit, select staff to run the place that will take another two-three months’ time.”
She also informed that there was meeting held by the standing committee today that discussed the issues at the terminus. The bus terminal that boasts of an administrative building and a shed area spread across 72,000 sq ft, has 19 bus bays, two food plaza, 32 booking counters, two enquiry counters besides separate dormitories and lavatories for men and women.