With inter-State bus service with Karnataka yet to resume, commuters in Talavadi who commute to work place face hardship as they have to depend on autorickshaws to reach the Tamil Nadu – Karnataka border and board the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses to reach their destinations.
Hundreds of people in Talavadi travel everyday to Chamrajanagar in Karnataka which is located 17 km away. While many work in hotels and vegetable mandis, many visit hospitals for undergoing various treatments. Due to lockdown, inter-State bus services between the two States are yet to resume. After the lockdown norms were relaxed, workers started commuting to their work place in the past two weeks.
But, in the absence of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus services and private bus services to various destinations in Karnataka and KSRTC bus services to Talavadi , commuters depend on goods carriers to reach the State borders at Ellakattai and Pulinjur check-post and board the KSRTC buses. Likewise, commuters from Karnataka reach the border and board autorickshaws and reach Talavadi to proceed towards Sathyamangalam.
“Buses are operated once in every three hours from Talavadi to Sathyamangalam and hence buses are overcrowded”, said S. Manickam, coordinator, Talavadi Taluk Farmers’ Association, who wanted more buses to be operated. He said that absence of inter-State buses is causing hardship to the workers and hospital goers to Chamarajanagar and Sathyamangalam and wanted frequency of bus services to be increased.
