Toilets in Bichkunda bus stand stink

Kamareddy: One look at the bus stand and its toilets in Bichkunda clearly shows that 'Swachh Bharat' mission is a failure here.

Bichkunda is a busy commuter centre where thousands of commuters from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana pass through the bus stand at mandal headquarters every day.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Swachh Bharat Mission is a nation-wide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India's cities, towns, urban and rural areas.

The toilets in Bichkunda bus stand were damaged dur to the recent rains. The septic tank was filled with rainwater due to heavy rains last month and overflowing for the past 55 days and hadn't repaired, due to which foul smell hovering all over the bus stand making the passengers to close their noses.

With the odour spreading throughout the bus stand, the toilet managers brought the matter to the attention of RTC depot manager concerned. RTC officials are yet to respond. Despite the toilet repair being brought to the attention of the concerned authorities, no action has been taken, forcing the passengers to face problems.

Bichkunda mandal is the focal point of Jukkal constituency. The district officials, who gave a big propaganda about Swachh Bharat, apparently didn't see the unclean bathrooms and the bus stand.

For the past two months, women passengers and women employees are facing untold problems every day as they couldn't use the toilets.

The bus stand was constructed in 1988 by the then Chief Minister NT Rama Rao for the convenience of the people of Bichkunda mandal.

Maintaining the structure and repairing the bus stand has become a burden for the authorities and the RTC officials are apathetic about the problems being faced by the commuters in the bus stand. The negligence of the authorities has become a curse for travellers. Passengers, who must wait for their buses, are finding it hard to control nature call and other needs.

In terms of transport, Bichkunda mandal is the focal point of the constituency. Employees of Jukkal, Madnoor and Pedda Kodapagal mandals have to wait for connectivity at the bus stand.

From here, hundreds of buses ply regularly to Karnataka, Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Nizamabad and Kamareddy. Commuters, people and employees demanded the RTC officials to respond and repair the toilets in the bus stand immediately.