Bus terminal will be at Panchapur, not Kottapattu, if DMK returns to power - Nehru

DMK MLA and former transport minister K N Nehru stoked a controversy on Saturday when he said that the integrated bus terminus (IBT) would be established at Panchapur once DMK assumed power. This comes at a time when preliminary works for setting up the terminal are under way in Kottapattu.
The MLA, who represents Trichy West, claimed that constructing the IBT at the congested Kottapattu locality will only add to the existing traffic woes and would not solve the very purpose of shifting the bus stand to the city outskirts. He was speaking at a private event organised as part of International Women’s Day celebrations at E Pudur.
“The proposed site for IBT near Kottapattu does not fulfil the futuristic needs as the site is surrounded by railway and central prison land. Space crunch will certainly hamper the plans to establish wider approach roads for buses to access the Kottapattu site,” he said. Nehru added that the DMK government had in 2011 finalised a site for IBT at Panchapur and that it would be certainly established there once DMK came to power in the state. Elaborating on his statement to TOI after the event, the former minister said that the site at Kottapattu was proposed in haste by Trichy Corporation and the state government. “For a bus stand, that too an integrated one, proper approach road is an absolute necessity. Jail corner, TVS tollgate and also with an international airport around, the proposed site at Kottapattu is unviable for facilitating IBT. However, 200 acres of government land is available at Panchapur,” Nehru claimed.
Back in 2011, the DMK government had narrowed down on Panchapur when talks were rife for shifting the much congested central bus stand from the heart of the city to the outskirts. However, the site faded out of contention as a probable site for IBT after the party was voted out of power in the 2011 assembly elections. Meanwhile, Trichy Corporation sources said that preliminary works such as preparation of detailed project report were being undertaken by the civic body through a private consultant for establishing the IBT at Kottapattu.
Echoing the views of the DMK MLA, local people claimed that the IBT, if finalised in Kottapattu, would not solve the purpose of decongesting the city as Kottapattu itself was a congested locality since the approach roads witnessed traffic snarls every day. Besides, with the international airport a stone’s throw away, residents claimed that the movement of VIPs and VVIPs may result in temporary lock-down of the bus terminus.