Spacious bus bays, waiting hall, provision for drinking water, concrete floor, and a host of other amenities are ready for the commuters at the renovated town bus stand thrown open to public use on Sunday.
Prior to renovation, the bus stand lacked basic amenities posing much inconvenience to passengers.
Encroachment was a perennial problem and the municipal authorities had kept a constant watch by clearing the advertisement hoardings and makeshift food stalls. Poor drainage was another bottleneck and the problem got aggravated during monsoon.
The municipality took up the renovation of the bus stand spread over 4.99 acres in October last year at an outlay of Rs.1.67 crore. Of this, Rs.1.17 crore was released from the special fund sanctioned by the Chief Minister for the centenary celebrations of the municipality, while the balance Rs. 50 lakh was from the municipality’s general funds. The entire bus stand has been covered with concrete flooring, a waiting hall for passengers, 52 bus bays, five toilets, including three ‘pay-and-use’ ones, have also been constructed.
C. Vijayabaskar, Minister for Health, and N. Subramanian, Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare, who spoke at the inaugural of the bus stand, said that the renovation with adequate space for shops and platforms would benefited both the shopkeepers and commuters.