The proposal on establishing an integrated bus stand for the city has turned an election issue yet again with candidates of various political parties promising action to end the stalemate over identifying a suitable site for the facility.
The proposal has been hanging fire for nearly three decades, despite repeated promises by officials and elected representatives, including the present Chief Minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, down the years. Despite the 10-year stint, the AIADMK government has still not been able to identify a site for the proposed integrated bus stand.
While consensus eludes the choice of a suitable location for the bus stand, former AIADMK MP P. Kumar, who is now contesting from Tiruverumbur Assembly constituency, has stirred a hornet’s nest claiming that the integrated bus stand will be established at Navalpattu, which he feels is ideally suited despite it being far off from the city.
Former Minister and DMK candidate for Tiruchi West K.N.Nehru too has promised steps to establish an integrated bus stand, making it a poll plank for the leading contenders. Under the earlier DMK regime, authorities identified a site at Panchapur, off Tiruchi-Madurai Road, for establishing the bus stand.
Down the years, successive governments have looked at various sites such as Devadhanam off Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass Road, Ariyamangalam compost yard on Tiruchi-Thanjavur Road, Ramji Nagar on Tiruchi-Dindigul National Highway, Pirattiyur, Panchapur and, finally, Kottapattu on Pudukottai National Highway.
In October 2017, Mr. Palaniswami, during a visit to the city, announced that the bus stand would be established at Kottapattu. But the site was subsequently rejected.
While the pros and cons of the choices have been debated widely, most city residents are fed up with the enormous delay in finalising a site and initiating the project.
N. Ramakrishnan of MGR Mandram accuses the elected representatives of failing the city badly. “The political representatives do not have a vision for future growth of the city. People are highly disappointed and lost faith in them,” he says.
He feels that only an intervention at the highest level of the new government can elp give a push to the project.
Some others feel that it is time that the existing bus stand is developed further.
Veteran consumer activist S. Pushpavanam, Secretary, Consumer Protection, while conceding that public interest and long-term growth should be the guiding factors in the issue, however, feels that the people of the city have not felt the absence of an integrated bus stand that badly.
“Without protest, they have carried on for years,” he observed and suggests that the existing Central Bus Stand be developed further.
‘It will have enough room to accommodate double the number of buses than now, if the space available along VOC Road is skilfully utilised. The bus stand could also be converted into a two tier bus station, with functionally planned entry and exit points,” he says.