Roofless Jaffna bus stand and suffering passengers

Passengers travelling from Jaffna to Colombo face inconveniences due to the lack of a proper bus stand in Jaffna at the main point of departure.

Thevarasa Varathan, a booking agent said that he had been handling reservation services of long distance buses since early 2009.

“Private bus services for long distances were handled at Muththaveli. We had a bus stand that was built by the Municipal Council for the convenience of passengers as well as the bus owners. It was badly affected by the Nisha cyclone in late 2008,” he said.

Varathan said that the bus stand was functioning with damaged roof until it too was removed last year by the Jaffna Municipal Council which had left the bus stand roofless.

“Following the removal of the roof, the whole building was knocked down without any prior notice by the Municipal Council.

“Now, there is no space for the passengers, relatives and friends who accompany passengers, drivers and conductors or booking agents to stay or to rest. In addition, there’s no water or sanitary facility,” Varathan said.

The bus owners do not have a union to address their plight.

However, bus owners, booking agents and conductors had personally met the Jaffna Mayor and other authorities and had appealed for redress.

There were several disputes as well. We have lodged complaints with the Police several times.Though Police men were deployed after the complaint,they had disappeared now

“Although there were several promises by the authorities, so far nothing had been done,” he said.

He said that in addition to the lack of space for the bus stand, several other inconveniences were caused by intermediate brokers and outsiders.

“Although they aren’t assigned to do reservation or any related affairs, they are interrupting the passengers by accompanying the owners of a few buses.

“They sell luxury bus tickets which are sold at Rs. 1,350 to Rs. 1,000 and they receive a commission amount,” he charged.

“There were several disputes as well. We have lodged complains with the Police several times. Though Police men were deployed after the complaint, they had disappeared now,” the booking agent said.

Another booking agent who wanted his identity to be concealed said that the bus stand was demolished on the promise that a new place would be allocated adjacent to the Jaffna Public Library.

He said that relocating the bus stand would not be easy as about 50 buses left for Colombo and to other districts from Muththaveli currently on a daily basis.

“The land adjacent to the Public library is not adequate to accommodate fifty buses,” he noted.

T. Mahenthirarasa, a bus owner said that due to the lack of a bus stand building, passengers were facing difficulties especially during the rainy season.

The bus stand is used as a parking spot for the local buses during the day time too.

More than 50 buses travel from Jaffna to Colombo every day. Rs. 100 is charged from each bus and Rs. 50 is charged from buses which are parked during the day time which run within Jaffna.

The JMC collects at least Rs. 150,000 monthly.

“We are not asking the JMC to build a proper bus stand from the Council’s money, but we are asking them to build from the money that is given by the bus owners. Although, bus owners are partially affected by this bus stand the public are the unfortunate victims,” Mahenthirarasa said.

M. Gnanapragasam, a booking agent said that booking duties were normally done within selected areas of the bus stand.

But the space couldn’t be used during the rainy seasons. Booking agents as well as passengers moved into the buses straight away due to lack of space now during the rainy seasons affecting their business as well as causing inconveniences to the passengers.

“It creates unwanted chaos among the public. The passengers get drenched and the whole journey turns out to be inconvenient,” he said.