COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore municipal corporation plans to shift the Omni bus stand towards the rear end of CODISSIA hall to decongest the busy stretch near GP Theatre. The proposal is expected to ease the burden of accommodating Omni buses plying to Bangalore, Kerala, Chennai and other districts from the busy stretch of Sathy Road and Dr Radhakrishnan Salai and the traffic intersection at Sathy Road-100 Feet road.

The resolution to send a proposal seeking the state government's permission to shift the bus terminal to the new location was passed in the council meeting held at the Coimbatore municipal corporation on Monday. If the state government approves the corporation's plan, then the new Omni bus stand will be situated about 80 feet behind the CODISSIA hall spread across 11.7 acres.

"The decision to shift the Omni bus stand to the new location was taken after conducting detailed discussions and scouting for locations. Shortage of space and land availability forced us to settle on the new location near COSISSIA Hall

Out of the 11.7 acres of land available, the corporation plans to merge 8.44 acre of land with the Bhoomidhan board and the remaining 2.73 acres will belong to the CODISSIA complex. Officials say that the permission to utilize 11.7 acres of Bhoomidhan board's land will ultimately depend on Commissioner of Land Administration's final approval.

"The approach road to CODISSIA has been handed over to the corporation already and we are developing a scheme road connecting Avinashi towards the proposed site. There were some legal hurdles as a matriculation school interfered with the proposed route. Now, it is being diverted towards the eastern side," said a corporation official.

However, Omni bus operators say that if the location is shifted from Sathy Road to CODISSIA then passengers will have difficulty in approaching the bus stand. They also added that the existing one acre and the adjoining two acres of land belonging to the corporation was enough to expand the parking facilities of the Omni bus stand.

"It will be difficult for people to reach the new bus stand near CODISSIA. But we have to comply with the corporation's decision," said R Bhaskar, president, Tamil Nadu Omni Bus Owners Association (Coimbatore).

The Omni bus stand on Sathy Road caters to a large number of passengers and also goods transporters operating out of the stand claimed that there are about 100 buses using the bus stand.