Lucknow’s summer woes: Charbagh bus depot swelters, Alambagh lacks chill
At the Charbagh bus depot, adequate fans are installed only in the shaded area where food stalls are set up, leading most regular passengers to seek respite there.
Amidst the scorching summer heat, Charbagh and Alambagh, two primary bus depots in the state capital, grapple with challenges, inconveniencing passengers. Following an inspection at the Qaiserbagh bus depot that led to reparations totalling Rs. 18 lakhs, an HT survey revealed inadequate amenities at both Charbagh and Alambagh, leaving passengers without sufficient relief from the heat.
At the Charbagh bus depot, adequate fans are installed only in the shaded area where food stalls are set up, leading most regular passengers to seek respite there. While some were fortunate enough to find a seat in the afternoon rush, several had to lay on the floors.
In the waiting area for workers, depot labourers, roadside stragglers, and passengers with long waiting periods found themselves in an uncomfortable situation. Furnished with only one fan and a quickly flooding floor from a pipe leak, they had limited options for places to rest.
“We are sleeping here because we have to go back to work for another shift at a construction site, and then wait till later in the evening for our bus,” said Shyamal Ram, who was sleeping under the only fan in the unclean and sweltering waiting area.
Charbagh has one water cooler manned by a single person, filling up bottles for Rs. 2 per liter. Passengers reported that the older water cooler at the bus stop never has cold water and often malfunctions. Consequently, dozens queue up with empty plastic bottles to quench their thirst at the only cooler at the depot.
The Alambagh bus depot outdoes itself in terms of seating space. Even though the indoor waiting area at Alambagh is cooler due to the shade and central air conditioning, several of the AC vents do not work.
Despite being touted as one of the best in the city, the working water coolers at Alambagh do not dispense chilled water. Passengers have to rely on plastic water bottles from the food stalls, which cost at least Rs. 10 per bottle.
Food stall vendor Rajesh Kumar noted that during summer, the sale of cold water bottles shoots up due to the lack of working water coolers. “Passengers buy from our shops. Normally we sell 30-50 bottles, but in the summer we sell around 70 every day,” he shared. All food stalls at the Alambagh depot capitalize on this lack.
“I am a regular passenger and have been taking the bus to travel to Lucknow for decades now,” said Amit Khare, a sales representative who travels home to Saharanpur every weekend. “I have seen people gulping down bottle after bottle of cold water standing right at the shop. In this terrible heat, it is one of the things people should have easy and inexpensive access to,” he opined.
During surprise inspections by senior UPSRTC officials earlier this week, the Lucknow Regional Manager, UPSRTC, ordered that proper drinking water facilities and coolers be installed in the depots for the personnel working there. He also instructed that cleanliness and hygiene be maintained at the bus depots.
However, the authorities have clearly neglected to act on these instructions in the three days since the inspection on May 25. Assistant regional managers at both depots have said that work to correct these issues will begin shortly, and funding for the same is being arranged.