Construction work of the new bus stand at Thirumanilaiyur here began on Saturday.
Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji inaugurated the work in the presence of Minister for Micro, Small and Micro Enterprises T.M. Anbarasan.
Collector T. Prabhu Shankar, Corporation Mayor Kavitha Ganesan and Commissioner N. Ravichandran and senior officials took part in the function.
Speaking at the function, Mr. Senthil Balaji said that it was one of the electoral promises of the DMK. It was a long-pending demand of the people of Karur. The existing bus stand was facing a space crunch due to a sharp rise in the number of buses and passengers. The new bus stand would ease the traffic congestion to a great extent. It would come up on 12.14 acres at Thirumaniyalur and ₹40 crore would be spent for the project.
According to sources, an Erode-based firm, which bagged the contract, had been asked to complete the project within 18 months.
As per the plan, the bus stand would have 85 bus bays to operate city and long route buses with two air-conditioned waiting halls. To serve the passengers and bus crews, two air-conditioned restaurants would also be constructed in addition to a cloak room.
Mr. Ravichandran said construction of a parking lot was part of the project. Facilities would be established for parking 67 cars, 200 two-wheelers and 20 auto rickshaws. Similarly, a mother feeding centre would also be constructed. There was a provision to set up an automated teller machine and two ticket counters besides an administrative room. There would be a provision for a luggage room.
He said that it had been planned to build a sanitary complex, which would have six paid toilets and four urinals. Installation of closed circuit television cameras were also part of the plan. The construction work of the bus stand would be completed by March 2024.
