The top brass have instructed to remove all encroachments including bus shelters erected by private parties. The drive has begun in parts of Anna Nagar zone. Encroachments near New Avadi Road and Natha­muni junction will be focused and the drive will be expanded to other parts in phased manner, a corporation official said.

 

The civic body has planned to construct several modern bus shelters and legislators can also allocate funds from their local area development funds for constructing new shelters. Soon three new bus shelters will come up along the arterial New Avadi road”, Villivakkam legislator J C D Prabhakar said.       

 

The corporation has proposed of constructing 500 bus stands in the city and has already invited tenders to construct 108 shelters in the first phase. The bus shelter facility and road beautification project will be taken up simultaneously, corporation sources said.

 

“New bus shelters have been a long pending dem­and of the local residents and private parties constructed a few bus shelters in the area and promoted bill boards. The corporation should also ensure that such illegal structures do not mushroom”, opined civic activist Ayanavaram Ramadoss. 

 

 

 

 

Maduravoyal MLA G. Beemrao who allocated Rs 53 lakh to construct a proper terminus with a concrete floor, drinking water and restroom facility, said that the officials had promised to pay the tax amount in a few days. This was his poll promise, he added.

 

Officials from MTC, which contributed funds towards erecting the shelter, told Deccan Chro­nicle that they were about to pay the tax on Tuesday and that they would soon inaugurate the bus terminus.

 

The MTC has been identifying sites for new bus depots and constructing new bus terminuses for the convenience of the public, but residents of J. Jayalalithanagar have only seen their wait to use the facility grow longer.

 

As many as 40 buses operate from this bus terminus, making nearly 200 trips a day. Commuters have been boarding buses outside the terminus over the past year, braving the scorching heat of summer and now the rains pelting down, without a shelter while waiting for buses. The terminus has no roof nor seating, and the approach area is pothol -ridden. 

 

Residents said that it lacked even basic amenities and were suitably relieved to see construction of the bus terminus begin a year ago. But now, two months after completion, it still remains closed, according to Uma Maheswari, a resident. “If authorities open the bus terminus our decades long ordeal will come to an end,” she added.