HYDERABAD: The eighty-eight-year-old Nizam-era "Mississippi aircraft hanger" which stood the test of time and years of neglect despite being a busy bus station near river Musi in Gowliguda finally has come down crashing on Thursday morning.
The city bus station(CBS) collapsed at around 7.30 am, merely two hours before a scheduled inspection and review by in-charge TSRTC MD Sunil Sharma.
No casualties were reported as the bus station was evacuated by the TSRTC on June 30, once they realised that the structure had become weak and was in danger of collapsing.
The beautifully designed parabolic steel structure came down crashing as the rusted pillars could not bear the burden anymore. Visibly beyond any possible repairs, the roof caved in and collapsed on the road where buses used to change over. Sand and rust from the roof settled on the ground as officials put a fencing at the entry.
No services for past five days
The collapse could have seen a serious loss of property and human lives. However, the depot officials have taken precautionary measures. For over five days, no buses were allowed inside the depot, even the various food stalls were asked to shut shops.
"For the first time on Friday, last week, the iron pillars on the right side, near the bus ticket counter took a bend. We were terrified and immediately informed the depot officials," informed C Omkar, a stall owner. After that, we were asked to close our businesses and the buses were not allowed to ply into the depot while officials inspected the bus depot, he added.
R Srikanth, another stall owner heaved a sigh of relief as a major mishap was averted with the prompt action of the officials. "We did not know that this would come down so quick. The operations was going on as usual and if it continued, anything could have happened considering the high inflow of city buses here," he said
Anticipated the fall
Meanwhile, the transport officials said that dismantling of the structure is of priority. "We anticipated the fall because of which the traffic was diverted since last week. We will have to dismantle the structure and the call would be soon taken by the officials," said C Vinod Kumar, Regional Manager of Hyderabad Region, TSRTC, while adding that "a new model complex would be constructed on priority basis to restart using the facility."
According to the officials, about 2,500 bus trips are operated from the depot. 85 buses are kept on standby at the hangar and inter-change of 250 buses are done in the depot.
"The various buses whose inter-change happen here will have to be done at their start point. And, the two bus shelters in front of the hangar will be utilised to house the buses that go to rural areas," Kumar added.
First ever depot of Nizam's road transport department
Known as Central Bus Station(CBS) till the construction of Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) at Imlibun in 1994, hundreds of buses used to operate to all parts of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and bordering districts. The CBS, renamed as city bus station, was handed over to the city unit of TSRTC following construction of MGBS. The structure was built in 1930 by Butler & Co of USA, served as the first depot for the Nizam’s Road Transport Department. The aircraft hanger was brought to the city by sea and road and assembled at Gowliguda.