A spacious and modern Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus depot, inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa through videoconferencing at Lower Camp on Thursday, has fulfilled the seven-decade dream of the people in Gudalur area.
The bus depot, developed on a land measuring over three acres on Theni-Kumuli Highway near the Lower Camp, was constructed at a cost of Rs. 98 lakh – Rs. 75 lakh was offered by Andipatti MLA Thanga Tamilselvan from his MLA Constituency Development Fund and Rs. 23 lakh was allotted by the TNSTC (Division-IV).
Besides this, additional funds from other sources were also utilised to lay the flooring of the bus stand, construct the compound wall, a power generator room and provide other facilities.
A total of 40 mofussil buses proceeding to Erode, Coimbatore, Nagercoil, Rameswaram, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur, and local buses shuttling between various villages and Gudalur will be sheltered in the new bus stand.
It would be an additional bus depot for the corporation to park its buses, said TNSTC Theni Divisional Manager P. Arivanandhan.
With no bus depot at the Lower Camp, all buses proceeding up to Kumuli had to come back to Cumbum or Theni for sheltering. The existing depot in Kumuli was insufficient to park more buses, said corporation officials.
With the inauguration of new depot, Gudalur municipality has planned to convert the existing Kumuli bus depot into a modern bus stand at Kumuli to cater to the needs of passengers in Theni and Kerala.
The authorities would also construct shops and provide better infrastructure facilities for the convenience of commuters, said municipal officials.
Uthamapalayam Sub-Collector Raju, and TNSTC Assistant Managers Paramasivam and Saravanan participated in the inaugural function.
The transport corporation and Gudalur municipality had been demanding an additional bus depot for a long time.
Funds too had been allotted long back for this work.
The Chief Minister also inaugurated a depot in Dindigul and flagged off 18 new buses meant for various routes. On the whole, 104 new buses were given to Madurai Corporation.
