Provided with the aim of facilitating the commuters using buses,the electronic display boards installed at various bus stops are lying defunct. Even the route charts painted on the walls are not visible due to either having posters pasted over them or graffiti adorning the walls. This leaves the commuters without any option to know the bus routes. The display boards were installed by the Chandigarh Transport Unit (CTU) in buses and at the bus stops so that people waiting for the bus could be well informed about the arrival timings of the buses. It has been less than two years since the installation of these systems and it is already facing problems,failures and backouts. I have to wait for longer hours for the bus to my route as the same bus comes at different times daily, said Aisha,resident of Sector 20,who takes a bus to Sector 46 to learn tailoring,every day. She said that its been a month since the electronic board at Sector 20 bus stop stopped functioning,It is a big problem and a great concern, added Aisha. Officials claim that the residents themselves damage these display boards. Some are damaged just for fun,while others sell the wires to earn a few bucks. Government provided a very useful facility to the public,but people do not realise that. Some students do not even hesitate to damage these boards with bats and other material and some steal the electric wires and even the electric meters at night. The police,recently caught some youngsters with a big knife,for stealing electric wires of the display boards at sector 7 bus stop. We have written letters to the education department to give proper guidance to school children for they should not harm government property and also to the police department to take care of such situations, said Ganesh Ram,computer in-charge of the CTU. General Manager,CTU,S D Parmar,said that they were considering plans to install route charts at higher locations so that people cannot reach and misuse government property by painting or writing their names or sticking posters over them.
