MARGAO
The ordeal faced by passengers on the nationalised Margao-Panaji route seemed far from over. But Thursday saw more than 100 Panaji-bound passengers stranded at the Margao KTC bus stand for well over an hour for want of a KTC bus to ferry to the State capital.In the absence of private buses on the nationalised route, the passengers had no option than to wait for a KTC bus to come to pick them up. After a long wait, a mini-shuttle service bus arrived at the bus stand, but could carry only 20 passengers, leaving the remaining 80 passengers high and dry. This is not the first time that Panaji-bound passengers from the Margao KTC bus stand have been left stranded. In fact, passengers stranded at the bus stand has become an everyday affair for want of buses and the KTC s failure to meet the growing requirements on the nationalised route.An agitated passenger Parag Gosavi demanded to know why the KTC is not deploying additional buses on the Margao-Panaji route to clear the daily rush of passengers. “I have been waiting at the bus stand for nearly an hour now, but there s no shuttle bus to take me to Panaji,” he said.Swizel Miranda, who had come down to Margao for some official work, said the government is wasting the precious time of the citizens by making them wait for the bus service for hours. “People travelling on the KTC buses for official work are the worst hit since they cannot get their work done on time for want of buses. The government should intervene and solve the long standing problem,” Miranda said.When The Goan contacted the Managing Director of KTC, Derek Pereira Neto to shed light on the trauma faced by the passengers on the Margao-Panaji route, he conceded that this route is facing a shortage of 9-10 buses. “Presently, the KTC is running 36 buses on the Margao-Panaji route, but what we have assessed is that there s a requirement of additional 9-10 extra buses on the route,” he said.Reports that the KTC may receive a fleet of 10 new buses may raise hopes of solving the perennial problem faced on the Margao-Panaji route, but the KTC managing director says he can spare, may be 2-3 buses on this route, since other routes across the State are also facing bus shortage.What has thrown the KTC plan of transporting people out of gear is the fact that the many route buses are taken out from the regular trips and placed at the disposal of educational institutions. Requests by the KTC management to the government and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to outsource buses for the educational institutions have still not found favour with the powers that be till date.
