Missing bus shelter found dumped under flyover

Thane: Six days after a bus shelter in Thane went missing, the police found the bus shelter dumped as scrap under the Cadbury flyover on Tuesday. Police said they received information about the shelter being dumped and rushed to recover it.

The incident occurred on Thursday night when the bus stop vanished overnight, barely 100 metres from the Naupada police station. A case was registered against an unknown person under section 379 (Punishment for theft) of the Indian Penal Code.

Ravindra Kshirsagar, senior police inspector, Naupada police station said, “We have formed a team to scan the CCTV footage of the vicinity and found a truck carrying the shelter. We were trying to get the registration details of the truck and will soon find out who did this.”

Meanwhile, the Thane Municipal Transport official said that a new bus shelter was installed after the residents, on Friday morning, complained to the police and Thane Municipal Corporation.

Balchandra Behere, Thane Municipal Transport manager, said, “We have informed the concerned contractor about the missing bus shelter after the residents approached us. We immediately gave instructions to the contractor to install a new bus shelter.”

Some residents had approached BJP President Thane city, Sanjay Waghule, who complained to the Thane municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar, urging him to install a new shelter and set up a CCTV camera in the vicinity.

Deepak Kshatriya, a resident of Naupada, said, “This is the third incident of theft of a bus stop shelter in the last two-and-a-half years. Thefts of bus shelters on Gokhale Road near Tip Top and Teen Hath Naka have been reported in the past. Despite the Naupada police station being merely 100 meters from the bus stop and police patrolling across areas, how can a bus shelter be stolen overnight.”

An official from Thane Municipal Transport said, “They had given a contract under BOT (Built, Operate, Transfer) to a contractor for ten years to maintain the bus shelter and ensure its safety. The contract is now in its final year.”