MAPUSA
The new bus stand of Mapusa courted controversy from day one and continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons.
This time, the row is over the charging of parking fees for buses and other vehicles that enter the bus stand.
The facility was inaugurated on January 26 with much fanfare but was shut down on the evening of the same day for the repair of some pending work which continued for more than a week.
The issue became a major source of memes on social media during the assembly election campaign.
The interstate bus stand was constructed with an aim to decongest the thoroughfare opposite the taxi stand but the interstate buses refuse to use the new facility and continue to disembark passengers at the same spot.
The Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd has recently prominently displayed parking/entry charges for vehicles at the entry and exit gates of the new bus stand.
According to the displayed rates, every bus entering the bus stand will be charged Rs 50 while full-day parking for a big bus will entail a charge of Rs 200.
Similarly, full-day parking for mini-buses will cost Rs 100, Rs 50 for a car/taxi and Rs 20 for a two-wheeler.
Former MMC chairperson Sandip Falari, who was involved when the plans for the new bus stand was being drawn, said the decision to charge fees will be a huge deterrent and nobody will want to use the facility.
“I don’t know who has introduced the concept of having to pay for using the bus stand. As it is, nobody is using the new bus stand facility. And if they are going to charge then the buses and operators will shy away from using that facility. This is not a user-friendly decision,” Falari said.
He said unless there was a full-fledged bus stand, there will be hesitancy on the part of the private and public bus operators to shift to the new location.
“Not being a full-fledged facility is itself a deterrent. And if someone is going to charge the bus operators to use the facility, then nobody will go there,” he opined.
Social worker and activist Shekar Naik informed that most of the interstate buses continue to disembark their passengers outside the bus stand and one of the reasons for this could be because of the new charges introduced to use the bus stand.
Curiously, the board with the parking fee structure has come up very recently after the assembly elections ended in the State.
“This is a complete breach of trust. The stakeholders should have been informed earlier that they would have been charged to use the facility. If such things were brought to the knowledge of the people much earlier, then probably it could have given a different political twist in Mapusa,” said Ryan Braganza, former chairperson of Mapusa Municipal Council.
According to GOACAN Coordinator Roland Martins, not only was the parking fees on the higher side but charging fees to enter the bus stand defeats the whole purpose of having a bus stand.
“Charging a fee to enter the bus stand will be a disincentive. If you are calling it a bus stand and charging fees then who is going to come there. It will not serve the purpose. However, if it is a parking stand then it is justified but the authorities should declare it as a parking stand,” Martins said.
General Manager of Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd, Sanjay Ghate informed that the corporation charges parking fees at all KTC bus stands, including at the old Mapusa bus stand.
However, Ghate’s assertion flies in the face of ground reality as although the parking fee structure is prominently displayed at the entrance and exit gates of the new bus stand, no such parking fee board can be seen at the old Mapusa bus stand.
