PUNE: A lack of bus shelters on the 10km Vishrantwadi-Alandi Road stretch has forced students and several other commuters to stand in the scorching heat for the past few weeks.The shelters had started to disappear from the route after road widening work began along the stretch.Commuters have also complained that there are no designated bus stops on this stretch.The records of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) state that at least 50 buses, ferrying around 10,000-12,000 passengers, ply on this route on a daily basis.The stretch is a part of the daily commute of hundreds of residents and students from the Dehu Phata, Charoli, Vadmukhwadi, Magazine Chowk and Dighi.Mangesh Kamble, the employee of a Hadapsar-based private firm, said the authorities concerned have completely ignored the welfare of passengers on the stretch.“How can we stand in open areas in this unbearable heat daily? The PMPML and civic officials should experience our daily ordeals. Only then will they understand how difficult it is to stand in the heat even for a few minutes,” said Kamble, who commutes on the route daily.Public transport on the stretch has been affected by a plethora of issues — packed buses, non-availability of seats, erratic frequency, consistent mechanical glitches, among others.A third-year engineering student said, “The issues force us to use motorcycles. The PMPML authorities must ideally conduct a survey of the passengers and then deploy buses.”“The buses are very crowded during peak hours but ply empty otherwise. The administration concerned has clearly failed,” the engineering student added.Ajay Chartahnkar, the joint Managing Director of PMPML, said the public transport utility had conducted a detailed survey of the road a few weeks ago.“This route is very important for us as it generates a significant revenue. We could not set up shelters due to the road widening work,” he said.“But our endeavour is to establish at least 10 shelters on the stretch over the next few weeks,” he added.Earlier, the PMPML had removed several bus shelters across the city due to the on-going Metro construction work.“We are planning to relocate the bus shelters along these routes. After Lok Sabha elections, we will add more bus stops on several routes for the convenience and safety of commuters,” Chartahnkar added.

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