PERAMBALUR: Heeding to the demands of government school students of Pandagapady in the district, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar recently flagged off a bus service through the village last week by diverting the Perambalur-Mavilangai government bus (14B) .
However they complain that the bus is skipping their village, rendering the whole purpose of the service useless. They demand that the problem be fixed immediately.
More than 100 students from the village studying in the Venbavur government high school and the Nerkunam government higher secondary school near Mavilangai said that they didn't have bus services via Pandagapady during school hours, especially in the morning.
Due to this, the Venbavur school students had to walk 4 kilometres to go to school and Nerkunam school students, 3 kilometres to Nerkunam section road and take another bus to school. Even after the new bus service, which starts off at 7.50 am, began operating, it has proven useless to students as it skips the village, said sources.
Due to this, students going to Nerkunam school still walk to school. However, the same bus passes through Pandagapady while returning. Speaking to TNIE, R Ganesan, a resident of Pandagapady said, "Although the demand to run a new bus service was met, it does not fully benefit students as well as residents going to work, due to the negligence of the authorities."
Apart from this we do not have any other transport facility in the morning. Therefore, immediate steps should be taken to run this bus through our village," he added. A class 12 student from Pandagapady, studying in Nerkunam government school said, "The purpose for which this service was started has not been fulfilled.
We still walk or bicycle up to Nerkunam section road to reach the school. As a result, we cannot reach school on time. This causes fatigue and affects our education." When contacted, an official from the Perambalur bus depot told TNIE, "As per their petition, we started running the bus service. However, we will check the issue and take action."