Movement of buses from the temporary bus stand here was hit for more than 30 minutes on Thursday after traders and autorickshaw drivers blocked the buses leaving the terminus.
As the reconstruction of the old bus stand is going on under the Smart City project, the temporary bus stand has been functioning from nearby SAV School Grounds for the past two years. The buses that enter the terminus via nearby Meenakshipuram Road leave the place via Jayaraj Road.
Since Jayaraj Road is undergoing makeover under the Smart City project, the buses were using Meenakshipuram Road for entering and leaving the temporary bus stand for the past few days that triggered traffic snarl throughout the day. After relaying of a portion of the Jayaraj Road is completed, the renovated portion was opened for traffic.
As the height of the renovated Jayaraj Road has been increased now, ‘sand ramp’ was created as a temporary measure to enable the buses to reach the renovated road from the low-lying existing road and the buses could be manoeuvred smoothly with this temporary arrangement.
When the ‘sand ramp’ was removed on Thursday without any prior announcement, the buses had to be operated via Meenakshipuram Road to cause serious traffic congestion again.
Agitated over this, the traders having shops in the traffic congestion spot and the auto drivers jointly stopped the buses coming out of the bus terminus on Thursday. After the police officials held talks with the protestors and made alternative arrangements for the vehicular movement, the protest was withdrawn.
