On any given day, traffic movement at Kalavasal junction presents a chaotic picture, more so in the rush hour in the mornings and evenings. With mofussil and city buses picking up passengers at a makeshift bus stop at the corner of Theni Main Road, the situation has worsened. Though a bus shelter is located just 100 metres away from the makeshift bus stop, share autorickshaws and buses form a serpentine queue to pick up passengers, creating a disorder near the junction.
Every day, a large number of mofussil and town buses connecting the Dindigul highway ply on this road. With the operation of a water pumping station at Theni Main Road, a sizeable number of lorries also use this stretch.
M. Rajendran, who owns a shop near the makeshift bus stop for the past 22 years, says that earlier this was the designated bus stop. “Around 10 years back, the new bus shelter was constructed. But even today a good number of people prefer to rather wait under the shade of the neem tree at this makeshift bus stop to catch their bus,” he says.
Hundreds of passengers board buses from this makeshift bus stop as the bus shelter cannot accommodate everyone, complains K. Vasantha, who was waiting to board a bus to Chekkanoorani. “During the recent rains, there was ankle-deep water at the bus shelter. Also, all the private and government buses stop only at this makeshift bus stop,” she says.
During peak hours, the share autorickshaws and buses occupy the entire carriageway from the beginning of the Theni Main Road, causing difficulty to others, complains S. Parthiban, a resident of Doak Nagar, who commutes through the stretch regularly. “When the signal turns green, there is heavy congestion and vehicles coming towards Theni Main Road cannot enter the stretch. Motorists have to wait for another 10 minutes for the signal to turn green so that the vehicles can pass through the makeshift bus stop,” he says.
Due to this chaos, motorists are unable to even take a free left turn from Bypass Road to Theni Main Road.
The share autorickshaws pick up passengers from the makeshift stop and travel to the peripheries up to Chekkanoorani, Nagamalai Pudukottai and Karumathur.
A Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Authority (TNSTC) official says that the buses pick up passengers from the makeshift bus stop to face the competition from the share autorickshaws.
I. Azhagar, a passenger waiting to board a bus to Keezha Perumalpatti, says buses and share autorickshaws must not be allowed to pick up passengers at the makeshift bus stop.
“If there is strict enforcement from police officials, the situation will get better,” he says.
C. Arivanandham, Deputy Manager (commercial), TNSTC, says that the share autorickshaws have to be regulated at the junction and a separate bay for buses has to be created.
“The bus shelter also has to be renovated to accommodate more number of passengers,” he says.
