Kameshwari, 24, is jittery. Each day she has to catch bus from Greenlands bus stop to go to Mehdipatnam after she finishes her job as an accountant in an apparel shop.
Her predicament is not just because of the ill-lit bus stop. She is hesitant to stand in the bus stop as it starts teeming with sex-workers during late evenings and nights.
“Each evening sex workers descend on the bus stop to solicit customers. Due to this, men come here and start creating problems even to the women waiting for their buses,” she complained. “At times they put embarrassing questions which becomes unbearable. I cannot afford to go home in an auto everyday so have face this harassment on a daily basis,” she rued.
The problem is not isolated to Greenlands bus stop. Bus stops at Secunderabad, Begumpet, Dilsukhnagar, Secretariat, Punjagutta, L.B.nagar and Mehdipatnam have become ‘hot spots’ for such activity in the city.
“My daughter’s coaching class ends at 7 p.m. and she feels insecure to stand at the Route No. 31 bus stop in Secunderabad. As we cannot afford any other alternate form of transportation I bring her back home every day,” G. Sreenivasulu, an LIC employee said. This also means that I have to wait for more than an hour near her coaching institute, he added.
Bus stop near the A.P. Secretariat too has similar situation. After sun set sex workers stand here causing inconvenience to people. “Who would dare to question them, it is more like an organised syndicate,” lamented a regular commuter at the bus stop.
While many complained that not enough is being done to make bus stops secure, police have different version. “We constantly carryout raids and book cases, but it is difficult to pin point sex workers if they stand along with regular commuters,” a senior police official said.
