Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Nov. 18: The residents of Parangara village under Diglipur Tehsil decried the low frequency of the STS buses on the route of their area.
Talking to the Andaman Sheekha, the commuters and other passengers of this remote village said that, there is a single early morning STS bus trip from Diglipur to Pailoon, a remote pocket in the area which is exclusively for school students coming from Pailoon to Parangara Govt. School and students of Parangara going to Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Kishoringara.
But, the students of Paragara are suffering due to the reason that this lone bus trip makes delay in picking the students from Parangara destined to Kishorinagar Govt. Sr. Sec. School. And this very trip picks the passengers of Pailoon and Parangara and these passengers have to get down at Kishorinagar Junction as this trip again goes to Paschimsagar, another remote village situated in western part of Diglipur and after taking passengers from Paschimsagar it re-collects them from Kishorinagar junction after one hour and this is how they have to face the wrath of the erratic STS bus service and this is only due to the low frequency of bus trips on this route, the residents of Parangara rued.
And this very trip when makes excessive delay at Pailoon, doesn’t ply to Paschimsagar, they also added.
The denizens of this outback area, also disclosed that apart from this trip, buses from Rangat and Maybunder also pass through this route, but its uncertainty puts them in undesired trouble. In fact, the matter gets compounded when the driver and conductor don’t stop the bus at any bus stop in this area or even they stop they stop at 100/150 mtr away or speed away before one gets down or gets in the bus and many time it leads to injuries to these passengers, they alleged.
Few days back, such an incident happened when a Rangat/Mayabunder bus stopped at an undesignated spot and picked the school children destined for Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Kishorinagar; however a small child was made to stand on the last step of the staircase of the bus and who was feeling uncomfortable being sandwiched between other passengers standing thereon, and seeing this, the mother of this child rushed to the bus, stopped it and got her child got down the bus, the mother of the child revealed.
Besides, among them especially who are attached to govt. depts. like health service, Angawadi workers, ASHA Workers are also being severely affected in the event when these buses coming from Rangat/Mayabunder don’t stop at any bus stop in their area, villagers alleged.
“Earlier, there was a trip for Parangara at 12.00 Noon from Diglipur which was suspended long back and put us in severe trouble,” bemoaned residents of this area. On the other hand, literally the plying of STS bus has stopped on their route and the reasons behind this illogical suspension/cessation of trips is best known to the concerned department, they alleged. But, it is adversely affecting the school going children of this area as they have no other means of travelling except the bus coming from Rangat/Mayabunder as the early morning trip to Pailon makes excessive delay, they argued.
On the other hand, attendants of patients at CHC, Diglipur, farmers, persons having urgent works at Diglipur from this remote area are the ultimate sufferers of this whimsical decision of suspension/non-availability of the bus trips on this route. The vegetables growers, fishermen community are sustaining severe losses to their profession, as, in absence bus service they have to bear the brunt of damage of vegetables and fish as these are perishable goods. “This lackadaisical attitude of the STS Dept. towards its service is the cause of our woes,” bemoaned these two communities.
The residents of this remote area have urged the administration to take an urgent remedial action in this regard, they said.
