Panaji: Gross mismanagement and poor advance planning at the Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) Margao depot left interstate passengers stranded during the peak festival rush of Ganesh Chaturthi.While interstate travel demand peaked on the fifth day of the festival, the Margao depot abruptly cancelled its schedules for routes to Miraj and Kolhapur, citing acute crew absenteeism and staff shortages.Passengers were left waiting for hours at the bus stand with no official communication or alternative arrangements, as depot authorities failed to anticipate festival leave applications among the driving crew.“We were not informed about the shortage in staff. The KTC should’ve made alternate arrangements for us,” said passenger, M Bhosale.“We have no choice but to forgo this ticket and take a private bus back home,” said another commuter.Despite having advance data to restructure shifts or deploy standby drivers, Margao depot management failed to mitigate the crisis or inform the commuting public in time.While freshly recruited drivers have been hired by the corporation to address long-standing manpower deficits, none have been deployed on active routes as they remain tied up in pending medical examinations and onboarding procedures. The resulting gap between recruitment and deployment severely crippled depot operations at a time when passenger traffic was at its highest.A KTC official from the Margao depot said, “These are long-distance routes, and there have been problems only over the past two days owing to a crew shortage. We cannot ply vehicles if there is not enough staff. However, we are optimistic that conditions will normalise next week onwards.”Sources said that depot managers are routinely briefed on daily cancellations and crew availability well before 10am.“Depots traditionally prevent festival disruptions by strategically assigning duties to non-celebrating crew members—a basic contingency measure that Margao depot completely overlooked this year,” a KTC official said.
