The new campus of the Christian Medical College (CMC) Hospital on the Chennai - Bengaluru Highway (NH 48) in Ranipet has brought an end to the long-standing demand of residents in Puttuthakku, a tiny village on the highway near the hospital, to halt buses that pass through their village at the bus stops. Now, buses including town and long distance ones have started to halt at the bus stops on both sides of the highway. Two ticket inspectors (TI) were deployed to ensure full compliance to the order that has been issued by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), Villupuram Circle. The order comes after a series of petitions by residents of the village to the Chief Minister’s grievance cell and the Collector, highlighting the need for all buses to halt at the bus stops in the village.
The hospital’s new campus near the village was inaugurated by the Chief Minister, M. K. Stalin, through video conferencing, and he later visited the hospital last month. “Except air-conditioned, deluxe and point-to-point (PP) buses, which do not have conductors, the rest of the government buses will halt at the bus stops in the village. Patronage is low but will pick up soon,” A. Ganapathy, General Manager, TNSTC (Vellore Region), told The Hindu. At present, 267 bus services have started to halt at the bus stops in the village on the national highway everyday as part of the initiative. Among them, Chennai region has the highest services of 109, followed by Tirupathi (78), Kancheepuram (54) and Cheyyar (26) per day. Earlier, commuters from the village had to travel to Arcot town, around 15 km from the village, to board buses to key towns and cities like Chennai and Bengaluru because only 15 bus services, mostly town buses, used to halt in the village stop. A review team led by K. Pon Pandi, Deputy GM (Commercial), TNSTC (Vellore Region) was entrusted to monitor the initiative. Residents charged that since buses have begun halting in the village now, attention must be paid to providing basic facilities in the bus stops. “We have requested the district administration to provide basic facilities in the bus stops,” said M. Arun, President, Puttuthakku village panchayat.
