The announcement made by Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru in the State Assembly on the construction of a new bus terminus at Sriragam gave hope to the residents.
It has been a long pending demand of Srirangam residents as well as the tourists and pilgrims visiting Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple. Though several resolutions and announcements were made in the council meeting of the Tiruchi Corporation since 1996 on setting up of a bus stand in Srirangam, none of them materialised. There were announcements on the allocation of funds too for the project. They also did not fructify and they were only on paper.
After a long gap, the Corporation revived the proposal about a year ago and explored the possibilities of building a bus terminus at a defunct Srirangam club site adjacent to its zonal office in Srirangam. Since the site was considered to be insufficient for the project, the officials inspected the adjacent park. It was subsequently cleaned up for building the bus terminus. However, the suspense continued as the civic body did not allocate funds.
It was expected that the Corporation would allot funds in its budget for 2023-24. But, it found no mention of the bus stand proposal, thereby causing dismay to the residents of Srirangam.
However, with the announcement made by Mr. Nehru in the State Assembly, Corporation officials sounded optimistic that the proposal would see the light this time though the Minister did not come up with the allotment of funds
A senior official told The Hindu that a Bengaluru-based consultant had been appointed to prepare the Detailed Project Report for the new bus terminus in Srirangam. The company was expected to submit its report within one or two weeks. The project estimate and the proposed facilities will be known after receiving the DPR. It would subsequently be submitted to the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration.
He said the bus terminus would come up on about an acre of land. Eight buses could be parked and operated at the bus terminus at any point of time. It would have some shops and a sanitary complex.
