COIMBATORE: Three years ago, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) wrote a letter to the state government seeking release of its share of Rs 84 crore for the Vellalore Integrated Bus Terminus (IBT) that was launched by the previous AIADMK government. But the civic body has not received a response on the matter till date, which puts a question mark on the project. The CCMC gave this information in response to a RTI query filed by an activist recently.
The Rs 168 crore IBT project, which comprises of a mofussil bus stand, an omni bus stand, and a town bus stand was proposed in 2019 on 61.81 acres of land by the AIADMK government and inaugurated in January 2020. The project was to be executed with 50:50 fund sharing by the CCMC and state government. The work was suspended due to the Covid-19 outbreak and came to a halt after the DMK came to power even as the CCMC completed over 30% of the work.
Social activists and a section of locals formed the Vellalore Integrated Bus Terminal Revival Committee and have been demanding the government to resume the project. K S Mohan, a social activist and Vellalore Integrated Bus Terminal Revival Committee coordinator, filed an RTI query to CCMC requesting for the letter sent to the government by the CCMC regarding the IBT.
On Wednesday Mohan received a reply stating that former CCMC commissioner, Raja Gopal Sunkara had sent a letter to the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) as well as the department secretary demanding the release of funds in 2021. However, no response has been received till date.