(Sudeshna Banerjee and Brinda Sarkar)
Three bus sheds have been built ahead of the summer. Sector I has got a shed in CA Block, Sector II in BH Block near Tank 7 and Sector III has got a shelter near Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) school.
“The bus shelters have been funded by the MLA’s Bidhayak Elaka Unnayan Prakalpa (BEUP) scheme. Each shelter cost Rs 3 lakh to build,” said Rajesh Chirimar, mayor-in-council member, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation on Wednesday. MLA Sujit Bose was to inaugurate the shelters the next day.
There are about 20 decorated shelters in Salt Lake now and each has a pictorial theme on some luminary. “Since it is the 150th birth anniversary year of Sister Nivedita, a great educationist, the MLA decided to dedicate the shelter near BVB to her,” said Chirimar.
The shelter in front of CA 7 pays tribute to Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. “Das was the first mayor of Calcutta Municipal Corporation. Since ours is a new corporation we thought of commemorating him,” said Chirimar.
The shed at Tank 7, on Nelson Mandela, makes him the first person born outside India to be featured on these shelters (with the exception of Mother Teresa).
These bus shelters commemorating icons started being built about four years ago and all carry their pictures and sayings, besides those of the chief minister and the MLA. The Teen Kanya bus stop came up at Labony Estate after the last Olympics and features the three female sports stars who did India proud — Dipa Karmakar, P. V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik.
As for the location of the new shelters, Chirimar says teachers and parents of BVB had been requesting the MLA for it. Anita Mondal, the councillor of the Tank 7 area, had wanted this shelter for her ward too.
As for the CA Block spot, it was built to stop congestion. “There used to be an old bus stop here long back but buses continued to stop near CA 8 to report to a representative who sat there to record their entry time. This would block the lane between CA 7 and 8 and hold up traffic,” explained Chirimar. “Last year we held a ‘meet-the-councillor’ session with CA Block residents and they raised this concern too. So we shifted the spot slightly and built a full fledged shelter in front of CA 7.”
Commuters are happy with the shelters. “It’s barely March and it’s already quite hot in the afternoon. This shelter means I no longer have to wait in the sun,” said Subhashis Dasgupta, who had come to the neighbourhood for work and was waiting for bus route no 251A at the Tank 7 shelter.
Sanjib Basak, a resident of CA 7, is happy too with the shed in front of his house. “With the monsoons coming, a shelter was more than necessary. The earlier shed that was razed years ago did not have chairs. Now we can also sit and wait,” he said.
