Bus terminal at KSRTC becomes a “swimming pool”
Similar to what occurred on Wednesday, it just took a few hours of intense rain on Thursday for the Ernakulam KSRTC bus terminal to flood. Water from the drain seeped into the passenger waiting area and the station master’s quarters once again. As a consequence, commuters—many of them long-distance drivers—were compelled to catch busses off the main road as they were unable to access the station.
Even though lofty promises have been made to modernize the facility along the lines of the Vyttila Mobility Hub, the pitiful state of the KSRTC bus terminal persists. Despite Cochin Smart Mission Ltd investing Rs 12 crore for the project months ago, no work has been started on. The Vyttila Mobility Hub Society (VMHS) was assigned the task, which was once supposed to begin in February.
“The project’s implementation is extremely behind schedule. Not even the thorough project report preparation is finished. We called the VMHS many times after seeing the suffering of the passengers, but they keep blaming issues like a staffing shortage. The arrival of the rains has practically delayed the project, according to T Vinod, the MLA for Ernakulam.
It’s not the same as prior years. After the neighboring drainage system flooded, drainage water is now infiltrating the ancient structure. The bus terminal was flooded on Wednesday after only three hours of rain. According to a KSRTC source, “the station was flooded again on Thursday due to the continuous rain.”
According to the plan, the old building will be removed and a new bus terminal will be built at the current KSRTC workshop across the AL Jacob railway overpass. From there, KSRTC buses as well as private interstate buses will run. Vinod said, “I brought up the delay with Industries Minister P Rajeeve, who has committed to looking into the matter.
Infopark lets out a sigh of comfort.
Infopark, which was flooded after the rain on Wednesday, did not see significant flooding on Thursday. Even though pre-monsoon cleaning had been done in the canal and drains, the campus was inundated by Wednesday’s unexpected rain. The artificial bund Kozhizhira on the Kadambrayar River, according to Infopark CEO Susanth Kurunthil, caused the flooding in the IT park. But after notifying the district collector, representatives of the irrigation department took down the bund. We removed every bit of dirt and plants that had gathered in the drain’s mouth. On Thursday, there was waterlogging on campus, according to Kurunthil.
