D2 Express breaks down; Dozens of passengers stranded

 

Tarun Kartick
Port Blair, July 26: The State Transport Service Express bus D2-Express Travelling from Port Blair to Kadamtala, which leaves Port Blair in afternoon hours, today suffered a breakdown at Garacharma.

Usually an alternate bus is provided by the STS in such cases but today the STS did not provide an alternate bus and decided to repair the bus, which suffered breakdown. The breakdown vehicle of STS also reportedly reached the spot after considerable delay and by the time the bus was ready to continue its journey it was already 2:30 PM. The last convey from Jirgatang to Middle Strait starts at 3:00 Pm after which no vehicle is allowed to travel through ATR, beyond Jirkatang check post.

As it was not possible for the bus to travel to Kadamtala today, the stranded and angry passengers reportedly reached the office of the Secretary- cum- Director of Transport, Mr. G.L Meena and demanded accommodation for stranded passengers.

Finally after a long time the Director of Transport had to accept the demand of the passengers to provide accommodation, which is first of its own kind of incident in Andaman’s History. However, till late evening it was not decided that where these stranded passengers will be accommodated.

Highly placed sources informed Andaman Sheekha that an alternate bus was not provided because the STS did not have spare bus for the ATR route. It is the prime duty of the Transport Officer, Bus Terminus to ensure that spare bus is available with the terminus to tackle such unpredictable incidents.

The state transport services yesterday launched a control room with one of the main objectives as getting real time information about breakdown of busses but what change will the State Transport Services make with this control room if it does not keep busses in spare for the most important route in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

It’s high time for the authorities to wake up and make a change in their system so that the inconvenience to the public is avoided and not regretted. The responsible authorities should ensure availability of spare busses for ATR routes and should also avoid delay in sending the breakdown vehicle.

Most importantly it has been found that the top officers of Transport Department shy away from media and do not answer to any questions raised by media on public issues, this only shows the department not only lacks a proper system but also professionalism.