BMTC in dark, commuters at receiving end

BANGALORE: While the State Government has been stressing on how all civic authorities should work in close co-ordination, here is a perfect example of how it is not true. While the Bangalore traffic police have been planning to raze 122 unauthorized bus stops for ‘causing inconvenience to traffic’, the BMTC was is not aware of this operation.It may be recalled that on February 15, the traffic police razed the Richmond Town bus stop, branding it ‘unauthorised’ and for causing tremendous inconvenience to traffic from all four sides at the junction. C0mmuters were not informed about it. Many had to walk all the way till the next bus stop to board a bus, during peak hours. This time too, with the BMTC unaware about this decision, has not been able to put up boards or guide people, who completely depend on the BMTC buses for travel.“If the traffic police would have informed us about this decision, we would have put up some boards. They have not even brought it to our notice. We could have figured out whether these bus stops are indeed unauthorized or not. Also, we could have taken some action or given the public some time to switch routes and figure out alternatives,” said Prabhu Das, Chief Traffic Manager (Operations), BMTC.ACP (Traffic)  M A Saleem said that they have charted out all the 122 unauthorized bus stops and will now raze them. However, BMTC MD, K Srinivas had earlier said, “The location of bus stops is jointly decided by BBMP, traffic police and the BMTC. There should be a space of 500 metres between two bus stops.”“We heard that two bus stops in Kengeri are unauthorized. The traffic cops said buses would not stop there. BMTC has not given any information about it,” said Ramya Raj, a student.