Citizen connect: Leaky bus shelters, broken seats big concern for public in Vepery

CHENNAI: The public has urged the local body to fix the broken seats at a bus shelter in Vepery. The stainless steel supporting frame of the seats is broken and almost all the seats are missing.

The passengers waiting for the bus are forced to stand or squat on the road until the bus arrives. Even though it has been brought to the notice of the authorities concerned, there has been no action to rectify the problem.

“For almost three months, the bus shelter has been in dilapidated conditions and the seats are broken. We are forced to either sit on the stainless steel rods or stand and due to less frequency of buses nowadays we wait for over 30 minutes to one hour. There should be proper monitoring of the condition of bus shelters across the city,” said K Parvathi, a passenger and a resident of Otteri.

She further said that if the steel seat does not sustain itself, the authorities concerned must go for another option or replace the damaged seat regularly.

This situation is not only in Vepery. The majority of bus shelters in the city are found with broken seats and shelters, which poses severe hardships to the passengers waiting for the bus.

“Even the shelter is in pathetic condition, during rainy days it starts leaking. The authorities should take action before the onset of monsoon. Also, there must be a proper template for the bus shelter and they should ensure that the seats and roofs are constructed properly. Instead of focusing on the advertisements in the bus shelters, the government should take some steps to carry out repair works for people’s safety,” said T Narasimhan, a resident of Vepery.

The official from the Greater Chennai Corporation did not respond to the calls by DT Next.