A rapidly growing town with a mushroom growth of residential colonies and industries, not to speak of several important educational institutions within its jurisdiction, Thuvakudi municipality still remains without a proper bus stand.
Residents of Thuvakudi as well as thousands of employees working in more than 300 small, medium and big industrial units and other educational institutions in the region have long been pleading for a spacious bus stand at Thuvakudi.
The present bus stand at Thuvakudi could hardly accommodate a few buses and any amenities. The allocated seven and half acre site for the bus stand has shrunk to just 50 cents as the remaining seven acres had been swallowed by encroachers.
Thuvakudi, on the Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway, was till recently a selection grade town panchayat and was upgraded into Grade III municipality in 2004 with a total area of about 14.50 sq.km with a population of more than 40,000.
The municipality with 21 wards remains to be an important residential and industrial town.
The Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi (NIT-T), Government Polytechnic College, Government Arts College, State Institute of Hotel Management and the Irrigation Management and Training Institute are some of the important institutions located in the municipal limit. A large number of people hailing from central districts are employed and studying in the industrial units and educational institutions situated here and as such the existing small bus stand always wear a busy look.
E.Kayambu, chairman of the Thuvakudi municipality, concedes that a spacious new bus stand at Thuvakudi is the need of the hour and said that the municipality had approached the National Highways to clear the encroachments and hand over the allotted seven and half acres site to the municipality.
The municipality had planned to take up construction of the new bus stand soon.
He said that though industrial units were located in the sprawling 436-acre SIDCO industrial estate here, the municipality was getting only a meagre amount as property tax which could be spent much on development works. Similarly, property tax could not be collected from several Government institutions, colleges, etc, he said. However, the municipality is getting a sizeable tax amount from the BHEL.
The non-availability of a spacious bus stand is a matter of concern to the travelling public for the past many years. A large number of people wait for the buses proceeding on the Tiruchi –Thanjavur highway during the peak hours under the scorching sun.
A good bus stand was the need of the hour and it will further promote the industrial activity, a cross section of the workers employed in the industrial units and students studying in the colleges situated here said.
K. Ramanathan, a member of Thuvakudi industrial workers union, said that public interest was foremost and all the residents and workers should put pressure on the local body and the government for getting the required land for establishment of a new bus stand.
