Shutting down multiplexes and schools might have quarantined a section of the society from the H1N1 threat. But there are numerous other places in the city like bus stands,railway station and vegetable markets where crowd gathering is unavoidable and given their state of cleanliness hugely hazardous. On any given day,over one lakh people commute daily to places like Akola,Satara,Sangli,Kolhapur,Konkan and use the MSRTC bus stops at Swargate and Pune railway station and both venues spell trouble. While the toilets smell,the eateries at the bus stand serve unhygienic food. There is no regulation on the food items sold by hawkers. Drinking water taps are located near urinals, said Mahesh Suryawanshi,who commutes often to Satara from the Swargate bus stand. The MSRTC claims to have made a profit of Rs 283 crore in 2008-09 but its Swargate premises is in a pathetic state,the potholes all around act as breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. Shivaji Sonawane,divisional controller,MSRTC,said keeping the swine flu in mind orders were issued to all transport staff to wear masks. We made an appeal to the travellers not to spit in the bus or in the premises but then who listens? We will soon be looking into the quality of food items sold at the bus stands, he said. Railway stationAlmost an equal number of commuters are seen at the Pune railway station where the authorities accept the fact that they do not have a readymade solution; they blame it on the crowds. True,Pune station is dirty but then there is a limit to what we can do. We have electric machines to clean the platform but the people have to follow certain norms. Water bottles,chips packets,used teacups,gutka sachets are thrown on the platform and the tracks. We had campaigns addressing the swine flu threat but people have to be more conscious, said Y K Singh,spokesperson,Western Railway. On the issue of hawkers,beggars,eunuchs and homeless individuals who infest the station,Singh has no answer. Our duty is to run the trains and there has to be some system to monitor the inflow of people at the station, he said. Vegetable marketsThe city has 18 retail markets under the Pune Municipal Corporation and many of them are examples of poor management. My galla 1255 is exactly outside the public urinal and the waste rotten vegetables are not picked up by the authorities on time, said Prabhakar Marne,a vegetable seller at Mandai. But it is easier said than done as Mandai has 1,465 blocks occupied by 1,100 retailers and generates 12 tonnes of garbage every day. Every day after the market closes,we collect the garbage and dispose it of with the help of a container that does as many as 14 rounds to the garbage depot. This system is followed at all the markets in the city, said Ramesh Rokade,Mandai in-charge,PMC. But things are back to square one by the time maximum people visit the market between 6 pm and 8.30 pm. I never thought that the market is cleaned as in the evenings the place is full of rotten vegetables, said Manjiri Laghate,a regular visitor.
