The State Express Transport Corporation, which had resumed bus services to Karnataka on Sunday, terminated its buses at Hosur on the advice of the police due to the tense situation prevailing in the neighbouring State taking into consideration the safety of passengers and the vehicles.
According to an official, only on Sunday the authorities of State Transport Corporations had resumed full bus operations between Chennai and Bengaluru from the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) after a week-long suspension of service as a fallout of the violence over the Cauvery row. The official said as of now no date has been fixed for resuming normal bus operations to Bengaluru following Monday’s violence in Karnataka.
The SETC official said though buses are being operated till Hosur, there is not much of a crowd normally seen on weekdays because of lack of connectivity issue to the capital city of Karnataka and other destinations.
The SETC, which operates around 150 buses on weekends, operates only 100 buses during weekdays and even most of these buses are not fully occupied. The bus bay where the Karnataka-bound buses are usually parked is now deserted. A senior official of the SETC in the CMBT depot said the bus bay allotted for Bengaluru-bound buses have been closed even as commuters wanting to go to Bengaluru are being advised that bus services are available only till Hosur. Similarly, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), which was operating buses between Bengaluru and Chennai regularly even during the tense situation for the past one week, has stopped operating the bus services. Several KSRTC buses parked at the CMBT have stopped bus services towards Bengaluru, the SETC official added.
The Chennai City Police have posted police personnel to prevent any untoward incident concerning the KSRTC buses.
