Mangaluru : The Mangaluru Smart City Limited has constructed 20 smart bus shelters at various locations in the city. Interestingly, one of the smart bus shelters has come up at Panambur, where two bus shelters already exist.

A new smart bus shelter was constructed by the MSCL in the middle of two existing bus shelters, one constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and another by the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT). While MSCL has sanctioned 20 smart bus shelters including three with e-toilets, the one at Panambur was constructed at a cost of Rs 12 lakh.

Soon after the construction work was completed, the picture of three bus shelters in a row started flooding social media. Memes based on the bus shelters with satirical comments on how public money is being wasted without applying mind, went viral on social media. “Three bus shelters enough or you need one more? This bus shelter is not constructed by any individual from his money, but from the tax money paid by the people,” wrote activist Shashidhar Shetty on social media.

“Three bus shelters in Panambur bus stop, with one constructed by the NMPT, the second one by NHAI, and third one by MSCL in the middle, constructed at a cost of Rs 12 lakh. However, our enlightened citizens have not used them since shrubs have grown beside them. Most of the buses too do not stop there,” read a message on social media.

Strangely, managing director of MSCL, Mohammed Nazeer, was caught unawares about the existence of three bus shelters. When contacted, he told TOI that the old bus shelters may be removed later. “The space for a bus shelter was identified by the NHAI based on our request. Since the land belongs to NHAI, we had requested them to provide land for a bus shelter. Hence, we constructed a bus shelter at the place identified by NHAI. After looking into the issue, a decision to remove bus shelters built by NHAI and NMPT will be taken,” Nazeer said.