Anticipating more people to travel by trains in view of the introduction of e-pass system for vehicles to hill stations, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) has commenced special bus services to Kodaikanal from Dindigul Railway station, Kodaikanal Road Railway Junction and Madurai Railway Junction from Saturday.
TNSTC Managing Director A. Arumugam told The Hindu that as a first step, they had commenced to operate a bus from Kodaikanal Road, four from Dindigul railway station and three from Madurai. Depending on the need, they would increase buses, he added.
Following the Madras High Court directive to issue mandatory e-passes for vehicles bound for Kodaikanal and The Nilgiris from May 7 to June 30, the Tamil Nadu government has been working on the modalities.
Though there has been no word officially from the Dindigul district administration till date, some senior bureaucrats in the Transport Department have proposed alternatives.
The TNSTC’s initiative to ply buses from railway stations from as early as 4 a.m., 5.30 a.m. and 7 a.m. from Dindigul station, 4.30 a.m., 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. from Madurai junction and at 5 p.m. from Kodai Road junction showed their preparedness and pro-active approach.
Though some of the hoteliers in Kodaikanal said that they had not yet received any requests from their guests for cancellation of rooms, there have been calls from public seeking the procedure to obtain the e-pass.
A senior official in Kodaikanal Municipality said that they were awaiting instructions from the government. The mandatory e-pass requirement would not apply for the residents in the hill station as they can show their ID card and proceed.
A resident Sridharan, who is a civil engineer in Kodaikanal, said that the TNSTC’s initiative would be welcome as the hill station, which is experiencing severe congestion right now, may be relieved of the bottleneck due to heavy vehicular population.
There are sufficient tourist vehicles for the people to go around in the hill station and e-pass system should be in force for longer duration which alone would protect the environment here, he suggested.
