Haphazard parking of omni buses in the absence of designated terminus is causing chaos in vehicular movement, particularly on Sundays and holidays, around the Central Bus Stand here.
Regulation of omni buses has become nearly impossible for the authorities because of space constraint in the bus stand area. Efforts to identify a site for omni buses have not borne fruit. A move by the traffic regulation authorities to utilise a piece of land close to the bus stand was abandoned as it belongs to the Health Department. The land, official sources said, has been kept for expansion of the Government Medical College.
Omni bus operators say the onus is on the district administration to prevail upon the government departments to spare land temporarily until the integrated bus stand is built.
“We do know that the indiscriminate parking of omni buses is causing bottleneck in the Central Bus Stand area. But the only option we are left with is to utilise VOC Road and the Thevar statue area since we need to inevitably operate close to the bus stand for passenger patronage,” president of Tiruchi District Omni Buses Operators' Association Balu said.
There has been a phenomenal rise in the number of buses operated out of the Central Bus Stand by Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation. Moreover, vehicles coming from Bodi, Theni, Dindigul, and Cumbum need to cross the location. Not less than 150 buses from these places pass through the bus stand area and most of them wait for a while before proceeding.
The police authorities have understandably approached the TNSTC to pare down the extent of its special services from the Central Bus Stand, on holidays and during festivals.
Transport Minister Vellamandi N. Natarajan had reportedly assured omni bus operators, when they submitted a petition recently explaining the prevailing situation in the bus stand area, that the government was keen on finalising the location for an integrated bus stand for Tiruchi, with provision to accommodate the private buses at the earliest.
