Jawahar Chowk, in the heart of Bhopal, is almost devoid of bustling crowds even at noon. The four major roads leading away from the large intersection seem deserted. A few buses are parked idle on the fringe of this junction, all completely vacant. Occupying one of those buses is Golu, a conductor serving the bus route between Sehore and Bhopal, said,
“This used to be a bus stand but now there is nothing left here.”
Buses used to run on Bhopal-Sehore, Bhopal-Mandideep and Bhopal-Raisen routes from Jawahar Chowk near the famous New Market of Bhopal. But in the smart city plan of Bhopal, the bus stand was removed from here. People in Bhopal know these buses as Neela Katta (Blue mini-bus). Their popularity lies in that their fares are less than the low-floor buses of Bhopal Road Transport. Every day, working-class individuals commuting to Mandideep, an industrial city near Bhopal, typically rely on these blue buses for travel. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for hundreds of people from Sehore to journey into Bhopal daily. Given these circumstances, this blue bus offers not only an economical mode of transport, but it is also conveniently accessible from the city’s central marketplace i.e. New Market.
‘Hardly 12 buses left’
Rahul Mewada takes the bus from Sehore to Bhopal three times daily. He says,
“120 buses used to operate from here. Buses to go to Mandideep, Abdullahganj, Sehore and Raisen were available from here. Now there are hardly 12 buses left.”
He attributes this condition to the lack of a bus stand. Previously, this location served as a junction point for buses heading to four different cities. But now, it only caters to buses going to Sehore. This shift has negatively impacted Mewada, as he explains.”
“Who will give us money when the ride will not go? The owners also deduct our salaries.”
Buses parked on the road
Explaining his problem, Bhim Yadav says, “Earlier we used to get space in the bus stand and used to park the bus there, but now we have to park it on the road.”
He says that often he has to pay challan because of parking such buses on the road. When the ground report team reached them, we saw many drivers and conductors eating food on the bus itself.
“There was a bus stand so we used to sit there in the shade and eat our food,” Yadav says that during summer days it becomes difficult to eat food while sitting in the bus.
MP Elections 2023 Public Opinion: We are never able to vote
We wanted to talk to these bus employees about the elections. Most of these employees say that they are not even able to vote on the election day. Bus driver Monu says, “Our vehicles are busy in elections. They are not allowed to return from there for 2 days. On the day of voting, we are not able to vote at all.” Monu is 29 years old but to date, he has voted only during the Panchayat elections. “If you include the conductors and drivers of the entire Bhopal, there are more than 3 thousand people who are not able to vote,” Monu says while talking to us.
When asked about the elections, and their expectations, everyone said that the biggest issue for them is the bus stand.
“We will vote only for the one who gets the bus stand built.”
Most of the employees here seem unhappy with the current BJP government. He says that inflation has increased rapidly in the last few years and due to the impact on his income, they have been hit doubly.
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