By Mustapha Jarju,
Gambia Transport Service Company (GTSC) continued being adamant about the unhygienic stagnant water at the Brikama Bus Station where the buses park for commuters to enter these buses.
The unhygienic condition of the bus station is almost two years now without a solution or plan to evacuate the stagnant water where few blocks are lined in a scattered manner for commuters to walk when struggling to enter the bus to their destinations.
This reporter found several commuters walking on the broken cement blocks at this bus station which many people have described as unhealthy and risky for the users as the area smells of visible specks of dirt and litter all over.
Ansumana Badjie, a staff at GTSC and the Supervisor of the Brikama Bus Station said he wouldn’t say the GTSC management is being careless but they should have done more because the current situation at the Brikama Bus Station shouldn’t be in this form.
“We the staff here are suffering more from the situation and from the rain of insult from the public, too.”
Badjie said it is part of his responsibility to ensure that any bus that comes to the Brikama Bus station and the travelers are supervised before leaving the place, as the supervisor to provide an accessible environment for the travelers and staff. Based on this, he engaged the management who had come on several occasions to visit the place, but less is done to change the situation travelers are facing at the Brikama Bus Station, “but they are trying to make changes and they will,” he said.
He explained that they officially address the matter to the GTSC General Management still 2 years down the lane the situation remains the same, and even worse during this rainy season, and the dry season the water from the Fish Plant would also flow into the Bus station causing the obnoxious smell.
Supervisor Badjie called on the government to come out and help with the stagnant water at the Brikama Bus station, “to help the travelers and people who are working here because when the place is smelling sometimes we get sick due to the smell, even myself I am a victim sometimes if you inhale too much of the smell it causes headache.”
Though, he said they had made efforts in the past to evacuate the stagnant water but this is not enough.
Ebrima S Bah, a Teacher at Bansang Upper Basic School, whom this reporter met at the Brikama Bus Station waiting for one of the buses to travel to Bansang for his posting said, the stagnant water lamented the situation.
“This is within the market and it has health implications for both travelers and vendors around the vicinity, and I even found it very difficult to access the place because you have to walk in the water to get into the station. If an elderly person wants to get in here it will be very difficult. So, the management has to try by all means to clear this water for the easy movement of their customers,” Mr Bah appealed.
