Bengaluru, 27 March

A bus shelter in Govindraj Nagar, near Sri Sarvajna Public School, has mysteriously disappeared, leaving commuters exposed to the harsh sun. To make the matter worse, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) authorities and the police do not know about the incident.

"It was there on 1 March, but vanished the next day," said Ravi Kumar, a resident of MC Layout, Vijayanagar. "We thought it had been dismantled, but to our surprise, even the authorities are unaware."
The shelter was built in 2019 at Rs 19 lakh, according to former Govindraj Nagar corporator Umesh Shetty. "I've been trying to get answers from the BBMP for the last 15 days, but to no avail. If I, a former corporator, cannot get an answer, imagine the plight of ordinary citizens," he said.

MLA Priyakrishna also seemed unaware of the issue. "I don’t know about this, but I’ll look into it," he told Salar News.

Commuters are left stranded. "We thought it was under repair, but it has been dismantled," said Krishna, a regular commuter.

This incident is part of a worrying trend in Bengaluru. Bus shelters have been disappearing across the City, sometimes to make way for commercial projects, or even stolen for scrap. In August 2023, a shelter disappeared from Cunningham Road. However, BBMP later clarified that they had relocated it to their warehouse due to concerns about poor installation quality.

Meanwhile, a Lions Club-donated shelter vanished in March 2023, despite a police complaint.
Residents also reported two more shelters missing near the Adichunchanagiri playground in the same area. Shetty suspects scrap dealers may be behind the disappearances.

Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) distanced itself from the matter, stating that if the shelter had been removed, it was likely BBMP’s doing. But repeated attempts by Salar News to get a response from BBMP yielded no results.
Later on Thursday, a formal complaint was submitted to BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath and Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda.  However, no official response had been received at the time of reporting.