Thousands of passengers were stranded at the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G.R. Bus Terminus on Wednesday and Thursday due to inadequate bus services.
As it was a four-day holiday for many hailing from the districts, the largest bus terminus in the State received an unprecedented number of passengers from Wednesday evening.
Passengers stage protest
With not many buses being operated, the passengers staged a protest inside the bus terminus, blocking government buses from 8 p.m. After trying to pacify them for over three hours, the police resorted to lathicharge around 2 a.m. to control the crowd.
Many passengers were anxious to go to their home towns to vote, but buses were few and far between, they complained. The situation was the same on Thursday as well, with hundreds of passengers trying to hop on to a bus to go home.
Raja Ganesan, an employee at a private company in Kandanchavadi, said: “It is clear that politicians are least bothered about the plight of commoners. It was chaotic here. A huge crowd was stranded without buses. I have to reach my village near Madurai on Thursday. But I am clueless about when I will get a bus.”
A senior Transport Department official said that more buses were operated from 2 p.m. on Thursday. Between 20 and 50 buses were operated every hour from the terminus, he said.
