Netas, When Will We Get Our Integrated Bus Stand in Trichy?

The promise to develop an integrated bus stand has remained unfulfilled for over three decades in Trichy.

(Photo Courtesy: Smriti Mishra/Photo altered by Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

At Trichy, the yet-to-be-built integrated bus stand is again making headlines this election season. Netas from various political parties have over the years promised to build the bus stand, but three decades later, it has not materialised.

The promises of the elected representative of the AIADMK government to build an integrated bus stand at Navalpattu, which is situated about 15 km away from the city at Trichy-Pudukottai Highway, have seen no progress.

“It is difficult to drive the bus here. We do not get any free space as the bus stand is very small and our departure time gets delayed due to this.”

Melvin, Bus Driver

Trichy City main bus stop

As the space at the main bus stand is narrow and less, the drivers end up having an argument on who would go first.

A lot of other infrastructure projects for my city were proposed in the last legislative election in 2016, but most of them got rejected. The demand for the integrated bus stand was brought up during the DMK government from 2006-2011, and it was then decided to be built in Panchapur.

But when the AIADMK came into power in 2011, the government decided to scrap the proposed site.

“The officials responsible for these development projects have not been taking any action. I have not seen anything happening in these years. They propose plans for the bus stand just before elections, but so far only the Chattram bus stand has seen some progress, while Trichy’s main central bus stand continues to be just like the way it was before.”

Murlidharan, Local

Trichy’s main central bus stand continues to be just like the way it was before.

Apart from the cramped main city bus stand, the town’s traders also suffer with their business because of the unlaid roads on the city stretch of Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway. Wholesale traders of Gandhi Market in Trichy have not been able to transport their goods to other cities.

“The DMK party planned about shifting the Gandhi Market from here to Thalakudi, which is about 13 km from here. Even the integrated bus stand is just a part of their election campaign, neither the DMK nor the AIADMK has taken any action over this, we can just wait and see if they plan to do something about this, at least after this election.”

Manikandan N, Local Trader

Official’s Response to The Quint

When asked, the city engineer of the Trichy Municipal Corporation told The Quint that the department refuses to speak about these issues during the election season.

(All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)