more-in The Tiruchi Corporation has planned to request the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, to undertake a study and evolve a plan to redevelop the Central Bus Stand in the city. “We are thinking of remodelling the bus stand and will soon request the NIT to come up with a plan,” Corporation Special Officer-cum-Commissioner N. Ravichandran said. The move comes in the wake of the approval of a plan to redevelop the Chathram satellite bus stand in the city under the Smart City Project. The plan, estimated to cost about ?17.34 crore, has been approved by the State Level High Powered Committee, which steers the Smart City project in various cities. The Central Bus Stand, originally functioning on a 4.50 acre site, was expanded in 2007-08 when about 1.16 hectares of the Railway land was acquired by the civic body at a cost of ?5.66 crore. The Corporation had spent another ?3 crore for civil works to expand the bus stand and increase the number of bus bays to 77 from 55. As the bus stand was still not able to cater to the increasing traffic and passenger movement, there has been a clamour to establish an integrated bus stand. But the nearly two-decade old proposal on the establishment of an integrated bus stand has failed to take off as consensus eludes the choice of a suitable site for the bus stand. Various sites were considered for the facility, but none was finalised. Last year Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced that the integrated bus stand would be established at Kottapattu. But the suitability of the location came into sharp focus yet again and many civic activists and residents were critical on the choice. There was no further headway on the issue and subsequently the Tiruchi Corporation had pushed for the establishment of a bus port in the city with assistance from the Union government. The civic body sent in a request, through the State government, to include Tiruchi under the list of cities where bus ports are planned to be established by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Mr. Palaniswami has already announced that bus ports are to be established in Salem, Coimbatore and Madurai in the State. The Central Bus Stand, it is felt, would retain its utility even if an integrated bus stand comes up in the city and its redevelopment could help de-congest the area. Mr. Ravichandran, however, affirmed that the move to redevelop the Central Bus Stand would not impinge on the proposal to set up an integrated bus stand in the city.

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