The Hindu              07.01.2014

New bus stand to get a facelift

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.