MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu government is inviting applications for new mini bus routes, and mini bus services across the state will be launched on May 1 by Chief Minister M K Stalin, Transport Minister S S Sivasankar said on Thursday.
He organised a review meeting with transport officials of the southern regions, in the presence of Transport Chief Secretary and Commissioner Shunchonngam Jatak Chiru and District Collector MS Sangeetha.
Following this, Sivasankar addressed media persons and said the state government would extend mini bus services to every nook and cranny of the state.
Currently, mini buses are being operated on 2,870 routes. Of these, 504 applications were received for migrating routes. Under this scheme, 1,810 new routes have been identified and 1,225 routes were published in the government gazette.
“A total of 878 new applications were received from the southern and western regions for the service and two weeks has been extended for applications. After scrutiny and other processes, the chief minister will inaugurate the mini bus services on May 1,” he said.
He added that the government is considering transport as a service department, and compared to other states, TN government is paying salaries to employees on time.