The bus terminus near the entrance of Devi Karumari Amman Temple in Thiruverkadu has been spruced up. Commuters, however, would like to see more improvements carried out at the terminus. According to Thiruverkadu Municipality sources, much of the unfinished work will be completed in the next fortnight.
The sources said that Rs. 25 lakh had been allocated from the Local Area Development Fund of Thiruvallur Member of Parliament, P. Venugopal, for providing various amenities at the terminus, which lacked proper road surface, adequate lighting, bus-bays, supply of potable water and asbestos roofs.
D. Mahendran, chairman, Thiruverkadu Municipality, said, “One of the priorities is to lay a concrete road to prevent water logging. Provision of bus-bays with anti-skid tiles and seating arrangements are other amenities,” he said.
Commuters said that they could not remember when the terminus was revamped in the last two decades. Located in a fast-developing area, the terminus is used by about 25,000 commuters with more than 300 trips every day. However, commuters said that the work, which began more than a month ago, should have been finished by now but still work was progressing at a snail’s pace. At present, anti-skid tiles were being laid at the waiting lounges.
As work is on, buses have to be parked on Theradi Street, which is too narrow to accommodate any huge volume of traffic.
An MTC driver said that negotiating a U turn was difficult. Moreover, washroom and water facilities were lacking in the temporary location.
“We can’t park the vehicles on Sivan Koil Street even for a while; otherwise it results in a severe traffic pile-up. It would be better if MTC coordinated with the Municipality to expedite the work and complete it at the earliest,” he said. Joining many commuters, he also suggested improvement in restroom facilities. He also said that security measures had to be ensured as the terminus became a ‘den for hooligans’ after dusk. A Municipal official said that lighting facilities were poor earlier. Now, 35 lights had been repaired.
