The State government has sanctioned 43 new buses to the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) to be operated in Madurai, Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts.
According to senior officials in TNSTC, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had flagged off the vehicles in Chennai and the Madurai division had benefitted in the new arrivals from Wednesday.
Based on requests from public and those received through MLAs, new routes had been sanctioned on eight stretches in Madurai city and 2 on mofussil routes.
For Dindigul, six new routes had been provided and the mofussil segment has got 10 new routes. As for Virudhunagar district was concerned, three new routes and 16 mofussil routes has been approved. Totally, 17 new routes for city and 16 mofussil stretches had been sanctioned. The officials said that 54 body renovated vehicles had also been put to use forthwith in the region.
Apart from this, 50 applicants, on a seniority basis, had got employment on humanitarian grounds in the Corporation. The trade union leaders welcomed the State government’s decision for its austerity measure. Earlier, in the DMK regime, it would be customary to display all the new vehicles at Chennai for flagging off ceremony by the Chief Minister or the Transport Minister.
The diesel cost for each vehicle was borne by the exchequer. The bus crew had to be accommodated till the function was over. Further, while proceeding to Chennai, the new buses had to ply empty, while on its return, the crew cannot expect full compliment of passengers.
With symbolic representation, the government has set a trend and hoped such measures were followed in other functions/departments as well. This is a welcome step.
Similarly, in the past, it was mandatory for all the beneficiaries (who were handed over with job orders on humanitarian grounds) to be present.
The government has now realised the ordeal of common man. The office-bearers also expressed satisfaction over the announcement of release of pension pending from September 2010 to March 2011. This has come as a big relief to the pensioners, who were looking for the benefit soon on their superannuation.
