The State government has accorded administrative sanction for establishing a bus terminus in the temple town of Srirangam and sanctioned ₹7.77 crore from the Capital Grant Fund for the project.
The terminus would be established at a total estimated cost of ₹11.10 crore and the Tiruchi Corporation would contribute ₹3.33 crore as its share.
The establishment of the bus stand would meet a long felt need of Srirangam residents and visitors. The town with a population of more than a lakh attracts a huge floating population every day. According to rough estimates, nearly 300 tourist vehicles visit the town on an average every day.
During festivals at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, there is a huge influx of devotees and vehicles. In the absence of a proper terminus, buses halt along the roadside on EVS Street and Gandhi Road. Tourist vehicles can also be seen parked along the roadside or have to depend on a paid private parking lot on Melur Road.
The government order, granting the administrative sanction, pointed out that the number of devotees visiting the town was increasing day by day and there was currently no dedicated bus stand for local buses, intercity and tourist vehicles. Hence the construction of the bus stand was of “utmost importance,” it said. The proposal from the Director of Municipal Administration was approved by the Common Project Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee in June.
The Tiruchi Corporation had identified a site near the rajagopuram of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple and the Corporation Zonal Office. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) was drawn by a consultant and submitted to the government. The Corporation would now initiate steps to get the technical sanction and float tenders for executing the project, sources said.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Srirangam MLA M. Palaniyandi said that the long felt demand of Srirangam residents and his election promise has been fulfilled with the issue of the G.O. and expressed his gratitude to Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and Municipal Administration Minister K. N. Nehru.
The proposal to establish a proper bus stand in the town was mooted a couple of decades ago. The Corporation had earlier planned to build a bus stand near Yatri Nivas on Panchakarai on the banks of Coleroon River in 2012-13. The proposal was revived in 2019 but the civic body later discarded the site as unsuitable.
