Long wait for bus stand in Srirangam

Despite attracting lakhs of pilgrims and being the most populous among the four zones in Trichy Corporation, the demand to establish a bus stand in Srirangam is yet to be addressed. A proposal to establish a bus stand at Srirangam failed to find its place in the past five corporation budgets, including the latest one.

According to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam surrounded by Kollidam and Cauvery rivers on an average attract 5 to 7 lakh domestic tourists and 25,000 international tourists a month. With such a floating population, Srirangam had been craving for a bus stand for more than a decade. Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation sources said that as many as 250 city buses and 12 mofussil buses are plying from Srirangam to Central Bus Stand, Chatiram Bus Stand, Trichy Railway Junction, and Chennai respectively every day. Due to the absence of a bus stand or an ideal facility to park the fleets, traffic congestion is perpetual in EVS Street and Pulimandapam Road.

"With buses occupying Ammamandapam and EVS Street, it is difficult even to ride a two-wheeler. If there was a bus stand, these buses can be directed to it so that roads leading to Rajagopuram can be freed," said R S Raghavan, a resident of EVS Street. Even though 6.75 acres of land was identified near Yatri Nivas in Kollidam flood bank, sources said that efforts were not initiated to utilise the space for a bus stand. "As of now, there are no immediate plans to establish a bus stand in Srirangam," official source in Trichy Corporation said. Repeated efforts to contact Srirangam MLA S Valarmathi went in vain.

Most congested stretch in Srirangam:
1) Amma Mandapam road
2) Mangamma Nagar
3) Pulimandapam Road
4) Gandhi Road

TOI Report:
With authorities likely to abandon IBT project at Kottapattu, TOI earlier in January 19, 2018 had carried a report titled “Panchapur is ideal location for IBT” mentioning that Kottapattu was unviable for IBT.

Source