A new bus stand in Srirangam was among the slew of important projects mooted when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa represented Srirangam constituency in the Assembly between 2011 and 2014. In order to fulfil her electoral promise, the Tiruchi City Corporation had announced the plan to set up new bus stand at Srirangam in 2012. Consequent to this, the Corporation, after getting mandatory approval of the Corporation council, came up with details on setting up of the new bus stand at Panchakarai, adjacent to the Yatri Nivas. But, the proposal is yet to see a light.
As per the plan, it was decided to construct the bus terminal on 6.6 acres of land on Konakarai at a cost of ₹20 crore. Since the proposed site was a low lying area, the Corporation increased the project cost by ₹5 crore mainly to increase the ground level. The civic body then took up the feasibility study and arranged a private agency for drawing up the Detailed Project Report to seek financial support of the State government to implement the project. But, the project has been put on cold storage since then.
Though the exact reasons were not known, it is believed that the civic body had slowed down its efforts in the aftermath of disproportionate asset case verdict against Jayalalithaa in 2014.
“It is hard to believe that Srirangam, a well known heritage and pilgrimage town, does not have a proper bus stand. The town is extremely busy with the arrival of tourists and pilgrims from different parts of the country. The bus stand project can no longer be kept in cold storage for long,” says S. Viswanathan, vice president, “Thanneer” organisation and a resident of Srirangam.
He said that Yatri Nivas constructed at the behest of Jayalalithaa had become a hit. However, there was no bus connectivity between Yatri Nivas and Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, forcing the pilgrims to shell out ₹50 towards auto rickshaw charges for covering a distance of just 1.5 km. If the bus stand was set up at the Konakarai site, it would not only benefit pilgrims but also bring down the traffic snarls near the Rajagopuram on Amma Mandapam road, which was used as bus terminal.
N. Ravichandran, Special Officer cum Corporation Commissioner, told The Hindu that efforts would be renewed to build the new bus stand at Srirangam.
