Commuters at ‘shelterless’ Avadi depot grow wary as summer arrives

The MTC depot at Avadi is spacious. But for the weary commuters who have to deal with the scorching sun in these summer months, there is no proper shelter or drinking water provision.

Every day, 172 scheduled services is being operated from this facility, which has a fleet strength of 180 buses. Services including S41 (Ambattur OT bus stand and Avadi), S47 (Mittanamalli and Avadi), M65C (Pakkam village and Ambattur Industrial Estate), 572K (Ambattur Industrial Estate and Annanur), 563 (Periyapalayam bus stand and Ambattur Industrial Estate) connect the neighbourhood to other parts of the city.

The residents of Kamarajar Nagar, Vikas Nagar, Sivasakti Nagar, Vaishnavi Nagar, Senthil Nagar, JB Estate, Bharathidasan Nagar and Bharathi Nagar are largely dependent on the depot.

“The depot lacks proper seating arrangement and shelters are missing at various places. Usually, the commuters turn the median as their waiting area. It is going to be tough during the summer season,” said a regular commuter.

It is no better during the monsoons. “During the rainy season, the depot gets completely inundated, with water stagnating to a height of about a foot,” said a bus conductor on condition of anonymity.

Inside the depot, there is no drinking water provision for the commuters. According to sources, a drinking water facility was set up about three years ago. However, it was in use for only for a couple of months, before falling into disuse. According to a commuter, the MTC recently took some steps to clean the tank and put to use again. But there has not been a lasting solution for the issue, he added.

The depot also lacks proper restroom for the staff of the transport corporation and also the hundreds of commuters who come here. “They pay scant regard to the maintenance of the facility in the depot. Due to this, the people have no other option but to either use the badly maintained toilet or relieve themselves elsewhere,” said a commuter, blaming the lack of maintenance for making the space near the bus depot into an open toilet.

“This is the situation across all the depots in the city. The senior officials should conduct surprise inspections to ensure that basic amenities are available at the facility to improve the quality of service to benefit the people,” the person added.

When asked, a top MTC official admitted that there was scope for improvement, but contended that the depot was maintained reasonably well. “We will take necessary steps to address the commuters’ grievances,” the official added.