Alcoholics use the Newly Painted Mallikatte Bus Shelter for Drinking/Smoking/Chewing Spree?

Alcoholics use the Newly Painted Mallikatte Bus Shelter for Drinking/Smoking/Chewing Spree?

Mangaluru : On 6 April 2019, Yours Truly of Team Mangalorean while passing by the not-in-use Bus Shelter near Mallikatte Circle going towards Bunts Hostel, noticed a bunch of youngsters painting the said Bus Shelter. I thought to myself why even spend tax payers money on a dilapidated Bus Shelter which has been not in use for the last couple of years, because after the road expansion and other developments were done- the ONLY people who have been using this Bus shelter are the drunkards, or call them alcoholics, even beggars to spend their night, stray dogs- and NOT Bus Commuters at all? And a report was published on 6 April, named ”  Why Spend Money Paint a Bus Shelter used ONLY by Alcoholics & NOT Workaholics? “, and the pictures in that report of all the empty liquor bottles/packs spoke about the drinking spree going on in this bus shelter. You will also see a bunch of chewing tobacco empty wrappers, cigarette butts/wrappers, empty water bottles etc

When such was the condition of this bus shelter why would anyone bother to paint it, when no bus commuters are using it, since the buses are taking a different route, and also a few of the buses are stopping at a different spot. If you look around the City, there are so many bus shelters in good condition, well painted etc but you will find no commuters using it-for the fact the buses don’t stop where the bus shelter exist. The newest addition to the city’s bus shelters is the newly constructed bus shelter in front of City Hospital-Kadri Road, a project by Lions Club- but with a rickshaw stand and vehicles parked in front of this bus shelter, and now with the drainage work going on has ruined the area around it- and I bet this bus shelter is a disaster. What a waste of money on a project, which doesn’t serve peoples’ cause.

Before publishing the article dated 6 April, about the extreme-make over going on with the Mallikatta Bus shelter, I called the Swami of Ramakrishna Mission and narrated to him about the illegal activities going on in that bus shelter, other than it serving any good purpose to the citizens. I even told him that with the election mode of conduct, where no liquor is served at the wine shop opposite to this bus shelter, their clients buy liquor/food at that wine shop and consume it inside the bus shelter- making it like a “bar & Restaurant”?-and also leave behind lots of garbage. In reply Swami told me that he knows what’s going on, the only reason they are painting the bus shelter is as part of city beautification.

I said Okay, but my humble request is that they should see that no alcoholics/smokers/beggars uses the newly painted bus shelter other than bus commuters- if not it will be a shame and abuse of a decent newly painted bus shelter by all these ignorant alcoholics and of that kind. Let’s wait and see, what will be the outcome of this! On 7 April, yet another article was published named ” City’s Top Docs Sweep Streets as part of IMA/AMC ‘Swachh Bharath’ & World Health Day “, highlighting the opening of the repainted Bus shelter, and the clean up work done by the volunteers of Ramakrishna Mission and doctors of Indian Medical Association, in and around the Bus Shelter. And today, after nearly 40 days we are seeing the same activity of the alcoholics and the area littered with garbage. The photos in this report will speak the truth?

While the volunteers of Ramakrishna mission as part of their “Swachh Mangaluru Campaign” are doing a good community service trying to keep Mangaluru Clean and green, and on the other hand we have a bunch of ignorant and idiotic citizens of Mangaluru who don’t show any appreciation of the cleanliness work done by Ramakrishna mission, litter the city no matter what, and this Mallikatte Bus Shelter is an example. Every late evening or night you can see laborers and low class people consuming alcohol, chewing paan/gutka, smoking cigarettes and what not- and leave behind empty liquor/beer bottles, gutka wrappers, cigarette butts etc. And once some of them are drunk, they spend their nights in the bus shelter- the area even stinks, with these alcoholics peeing openly. It’s once again a pathetic condition at this Mallikatte Bus Shelter.

In spite of the night beat cops sitting in their car parked very close to this bus shelter many a times, these alcoholics give a damn for the cops, instead they carry on with drinking, chewing and smoking- and the cops are not taking any action either. How nice to have such cops to take care of the City and the citizens? Like someone said, “I bet the cops get a cut from the wine shop across from the Bus shelter, in allowing these alcoholics to carry on with their drinking spree inside the bus shelter. For few days, after the repainted bus shelter was opened, a few volunteers of RKM stood as security men during nights, keeping an eye as to what was going on at the bus shelter. Once these volunteers stopped patrolling, its once again drinking/chewing/smoking time at the lovely and cozy Bus Shelter, which is serving these alcoholics as a comfortable hang out joint.

Yes, while appreciating all the good work done by RKM, and other NGO’s/Organizations in keeping the City clean, the Officials of the City Administration/Mangaluru City Corporation/Police Department should also cooperate and come up with suitable ways to crack down on these litterers who are spoiling the beauty of Mangaluru. The NGO’s and other organizations can’t control these litterers, it should be done by the various City administrations, like imposing fine on those who litter, or even punish the repeating offenders. Apart from cracking down on those who litter, the Officials of the City, Police and transport authorities have to come out with a solution as to how to put some these deserted bus shelters in use again-one way they can do it is educate the bus drivers or post bus route numbers/destination names in front of these deserted bus shelters.

Also the authorities should make people use the newly or remodeled/painted bus shelters, rather than allow them to be used for illegal activities. If not it will be “Absolutely not a “Smart” plan when the City is gearing up to be a “Smart City?”. Or people should form a “GREEN BRIGADE” just like in Bengaluru where they catch those who litter, or take the garbage and dump it back in the yard of those litterers. Here is one such example on Youtube where the members of a Green Brigade group confront a person throwing garbage while riding his scooter, and make him pick the garbage and take it back with him- watch the video below:

Click Here to View More Pictures 

Also Read Related Article :

• Why Spend Money Paint a Bus Shelter used ONLY by Alcoholics & NOT Workaholics?

• City’s Top Docs Sweep Streets as part of IMA/AMC ‘Swachh Bharath’ & World Health Day