CHANDPUR, Oct 25: Chandpur district bus terminal is plagued with manifold problems, including infrastructural weakness and lack of amenities.
Amid much enthusiasm, the much-hyped bus terminal was inaugurated some 20 years ago by BNP leader and the then LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan during his official visit to Chandpur town.
Located in an open area on 10 acres of land on Shornokhola Road in the district town, the terminal has no boundary around wall at all.
Upon being well connected by road, rail and waterways and famous for Hilsa fish, Chandpur town is visited by thousands of men and women along with their kids, friends and relatives every day, who mainly depend on bus journey.
These people are facing many basic problems for want of passenger shed, good washroom,-alleged NGO employee Rana, traders Masudur Rahman, Abdul Kader and Mamun, and a few passengers from Haimchar and Faridganj upazilas of the district.
The major problems include absence of boundary walls around the bus terminal, passenger shed, bus shed, lack of renovation work of the terminal building and some other basic amenities like pure drinking water and lavatory or washroom.
The terminal premises are rugged and filled with huge dirt and garbage, mud and holes, potholes, which remain under stagnant rainwater for days together creating breeding grounds of mosquitoes.
An old driver named Faruque Dewan in presence of some of his colleagues said, "The bus terminal has no passenger shed at all nor any shed for buses too for parking the stationary buses during their recess. As a result, passengers have to suffer much during the time of sweltering heat in the summer season and get drenched in the rainy weather.
In rainy days, for want of bus shed, the buses lose colours of their bodies due to incessant rains and wear and tear.
There is no neat and clean washroom or toilet too where passengers and their children or elderly people can to urinate or defecate safely and comfortably.
Women and sick or elderly passengers along with their children have to suffer a lot. For want of required number of trains, most people have to depend on bus journey.
It is alleged that in absence of sufficient number of lights at night, boundary walls, and bus sheds , many drug addicts take drugs just after dark and drug peddlers move openly in and around the bus terminal area just after dusk.
Besides, it is observed that many idle buses are usually parked in haphazard and scattered way, here and there on Shornokhola Road, Chandpur-Cumilla Regional Highway, beside the District Sports Association office, in front of bus stop, mosque and elsewhere causing much inconveniences and never- ending- jams for pedestrians.
According to the Bus Owners Association's General Secretary Md Shoyebur Rahman and others, around 150 buses, that run between Chandpur and Cumilla, Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Cox's Bazar, Thakurgaon, Noakhali, Luxmipur and vice versa, are parked at night and during off-days on this rough and muddied bus terminal premises without any securities for want of boundary walls.
At the deep dark night, the lighting facilities are also poor as electric poles stand far away between each other. The situation becomes worst during cyclonic storms, torrential rains and inclement weather.
"Time and again, the municipality authorities were approached by the bus owners and the local transport leaders to make the bus terminal a modern one providing basic amenities for all but to no effect as yet," alleged experienced driver and transport leader- Faruq Dewan, along with bus owner Shafique Bhuiyan and also Moahmmad Shoayebur Rahman, general secretary of Chandpur Bus Owners' Association.
Talking to the FE, Chandpur municipality's Executive Engineer Shamsuddoha said, "For lack of fund, we can't undertake any development work in this bus terminal."
He added, "Chandpur municipality authorities receive an amount of about Tk1.0 million (Tk 10 lakh) annually as tax or toll from this bus terminal but for the development work including construction of bus shed/yard and boundary walls , approximately Tk 100 million (Tk 10 crore) is needed, which is beyond the capacity of the municipality's annual fund."
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