New bus stand to get a facelift

Tuesday, 07 January 2014 04:38 administrator
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The Hindu              07.01.2014

New bus stand to get a facelift

getting ready:The work of laying concrete platforms has commenced and the bus stand will be an all-concrete-road one.— Photo: M. Moorthy

Rs. 1.17-crore project taken up under Special Centenary Funds

The new bus stand improvement works taken up by the Pudukottai Municipality at an outlay of Rs. 1.17 crore through the special centenary funds sanctioned by the Chief Minister are expected to be completed in the next three months.

The work of laying concrete platforms and bays has commenced and the bus stand will be an all-concrete-road one. The drainage channels around the bus stand would be cleared, and construction of new toilet blocks forms part of the project.

Apart from the special centenary funds, the municipality would allocate Rs. 25 lakh from its general funds for the maintenance of buildings at the bus stand, said S.A.S.Sait alias Abdul Rahman, Municipal Chairman (in-charge).

G.Arumugam, councillor of Congress party, raised the issue of limited number of bus bays (49) at the municipal council meeting held here on Monday. Adding two more bays would upgrade the status of the bus stand into ‘A’ grade which would pave way for increasing the revenue through hike in toll fee from buses being operated at or through the bus stand, he said. Mr.Sait said that two additional bays have already been constructed.

The municipality had also planned to expand the new bus stand which currently operates in an area of 4.99 acres. The proposal was to takeover the nearby Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation depot along with its approach road. The municipality has sought the district administration’s assistance in getting the depot land. The Collector, in turn, wrote to the TNSTC and transport department officials in Chennai for transfer of land.

The Collector also assured 10 acres land in Machuvadi area in the town in lieu of the depot land and a site was also identified. The proposal is still under the consideration of TNSTC, Mr. Sait said.

Referring to the functioning of the temporary bus stand on the sprawling ground on Dheerar Sathyamoorthy Salai, he said.