Bhoomi puja for the Vellore integrated bus terminus was performed on Wednesday in the presence of K.C. Veeramani, Minister for Registration, Commercial Taxes.
Speaking at the event, he said the new bus terminus would help passengers and bus operators commute without hindrance to destinations within and outside the State.
The terminus, built at a cost of ₹46.51 crore in a 9.25 acre area under the Smart City project by the Vellore City Municipal Corporation, is expected to be completed in 24 months and become operational by January 2022.
‘State-of-the-art’
Mr. Veeramani said the state-of-the-art terminus, will have 65 active and 11 idle bus bays, and 8 bays for city buses.
A parking lot that can hold 96 two-wheelers and 15 cars and retiring rooms and rest rooms for bus drivers and conductors will come up at the facility.
“It will also house an information centre, first-aid centre and police booth,” he said.
The terminus was designed keeping in mind the growth of population and hence the increased transportation requirements of the next two decades.
Vellore District Collector A. Shanmuga Sundaram presided over the function. Vellore City Municipal Corporation Commissioner K. Krishnamoorthi, engineer V. Srinivasan, MLAs G. Loganathan (KV Kuppam) and G. Sampath (Sholingur) participated.
Buses rerouted
Buses to Gudiyatham, Ambur, Tirupattur, Hosur and Bengaluru will be allowed to use the new temporary bus terminus behind Selliamman temple because of the construction work.
Buses towards Arakkonam, Tiruttani, Kancheepuram and Chennai will also use the new temporary bus stand.
All city buses towards Arni, Tiruvannamalai, Gudiyatham and Chittoor via Katpadi will be operated from the old bus stand on Anna Salai.
Buses from Katpadi and Chittoor will drop their commuters at Selliamman temple and proceed towards old bypass road, Makhan junction and reach old bus stand. Buses from Ambur, andTirupattur will go to Makhan junction, old bypass road, National theatre junction and Green signal before proceeding to the new bus stand.
