Lalgudi bus stand has been languishing without adequate drinking water supply, bus bays and toilets.
Being a vital junction linking Tiruchi and Ariyalur, a number of buses pass through Lalgudi. There is no bus bay at all in the bus stand. Not much attention is paid to provide adequate amenities to bus passengers. Buses entering the bus stand from either Ariyalur or Tiruchi, halt for some time for alighting or picking up passengers.
Even a part of the bus stand has been allotted to the taxi stand where about 20 taxis are seen parked at any given time. According to taxi drivers, there was a separate taxi stand outside the bus stand but consequent to construction of road over bridge, they had moved inside the bus stand.
A section of bus crew said that it was difficult to enter the bus stand particularly during peak hours in the morning from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and in the evening between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. “Many drivers politely persuade the passengers to alight on Tiruchi Road or Ariyalur Road and we skip entering the bus stand,” says Puyalagan, a resident.
The drinking water supply should be ensured at three places. “Presently, the supply is provided only at one place, that too at a distant corner of the bus stand,” he said.
Officials said that a boundary has been marked for the taxi stand advising taxi drivers not to operate their vehicles outside the boundary. The traffic snarls were being managed utilising the services of additional police personnel and volunteers. The problem would ease once the proposed traffic island was built at the tri-junction of the Tiruchi-Ariyalur-Kumulur Road, they added.
