The bus stand at Viralimalai has been under-utilised ever since it was declared open before the Assembly elections in May 2016.
Earlier, the area around the check-post at the junction of the Tiruchi-Madurai highway was used as a bus stand.
Habits die hard
The irony is that although a new bus stand with state-of-the-art facilities was constructed at a site belonging to the panchayat, it is yet to be utilised properly. The work taken up in February 2014 was completed by September 2015.
A village panchayat, Viralimalai, was declared a heritage town by the State government by virtue of the ancient temple atop a hillock dedicated to Lord Subramanyar.
Realising the need for a bus stand, the Rural Development Department had sanctioned ₹1.80 crore under the Scheme Component Pooled Assigned Revenue.
It was built on an area of 10,000 sq. metres on a piece of land belonging to the panchayat close to the Viralimalai–Tiruchi Road. It has 10 bus bays and 12 shops on a plinth area of 816 square metres. Only one shop run by Aavin has been functioning at the bus stand.
Further, not all buses enter the bus stand, forcing the people to go over to the check-post area. Even on Saturday, when the Tamil Nadu State Corporation operated special buses for jallikattu at Tirunallur near Viralimalai, the buses were operated from the check-post area.
The four-laning of the Tiruchi - Madurai highway has further forced the bus drivers to skip the bus stand as it is located on the service road well below a bridge.
Official sources said that the bus stand would be properly utilised in course of time. As of now only town buses and select mofussil buses halt here.
