Having initiated steps to ensure compliance to the court
order and full utilisation of Singanallur bus stand, the task now with
the authorities was to make the bus operators comply with the court
order and utilise the modern bus stand on Mettupalayam Road.

Beginning
March 11, authorities have commenced a drive to ensure termination of
long distance buses at the Singanallur bus stand in a determined bid to
decongest the city roads. The Government sanctioned construction of a
mofussil bus stand at Singanallur on July 26, 1999 and the bus stand was
inaugurated on June 20, 2002. The Regional Transport Authority issued
orders for termination of buses at Singanallur with immediate effect.

Aggrieved
by the orders of the RTA, private bus operators moved the Madras High
Court by filing a writ petition. From July 5, 2002, the legal battle
continued and the court ordered buses plying within the distance of 55
km to go up to Gandhipuram while the rest had to be terminated at
Singanallur. Bus operators filed writ appeals finally on July 6, 2011,
and the court directed the petitioners to seek relief from the
respondents.

After a long-drawn battle, the Regional
Transport Authority recently issued orders asking for termination of
buses plying beyond 55 km distance and this covered the buses to
Dharapuram, Kangeyam, Vellakoil, Dindigul, Madurai and Tiruchi from
Coimbatore. Enforcement of the orders literally stopping more than
40-odd buses had commenced from March 11.

Now, the
point in dispute or bone of contention is that Singanallur and
Mettupalayam Road bus stands were constructed primarily with a view to
decongest city roads. Bus operators, citing the Singanallur bus stand
example, obtained a stay to terminate buses on the Mettupalayam Road bus
stand and the buses continued to enter Gandhipuram congesting stretches
such as Sivananda Colony, 100 Feet, Sathyamangalam Road and Dr.Nanjappa
Road.

Applying the same yardstick, Secretary of
Coimbatore Consumer Cause (CCC) K. Kathirmathiyon urged the Regional
Transport Authority/Collector, Police Commissioner and Transport
Department to ensure that buses that plied beyond 55 km distance are
terminated at the Mettupalayam Road bus stand.

For
example, buses on the Coimbatore – Mettupalayam sector are running for
less than 55 km and they can come up to Gandhipuram, en route
Mettupalayam Road bus stand on either direction. However, buses on the
Coimbatore – Gudalur, Coimbatore – Udhagamandalam, Coimbatore – Coonoor
and Coimbatore – Kotagiri sectors run for more than 55 km and they
should be terminated at Mettupalayam.

Termination of
such long-distance buses at Mettupalayam Road will substantially ease
congestion in the heart of the city and also ensure that a bus stand
constructed at the cost of several crores using the tax payers money is
put to use, he said. If the bus operators, including the TNSTC continue
to defy the court orders and official orders, the objective of shifting
bus stands out of the city for the purpose of decongestion would be
defeated.

Police are already hard pressed to regulate
traffic snarls caused by the Ukkadam bus stand which has become a core
city area and the Omni bus stand that paralyses traffic on
Sathyamangalam Road.

Steps should be taken at the earliest for a comprehensive bus stand concept for decongesting the city, he added.