CHENNAI: The satellite bus terminus in Madhavaram, which will accommodate commuters going to neighbouring Andhra and other northern regions, has drawn flak from the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) which claims the terminus is unsafe as it does not have separate partition for mofussil buses and city buses.Built in eight acres of land at a cost of Rs 95 crore, the project, which had faced feasibility issues and was stalled initially due to heavy truck movement, is now facing criticism from MTC officials who claim the terminus is unsafe.
Although the bus terminus is expected to provide much-needed relief to commuters going to neighbouring Andhra, once it is inaugurated, MTC feels the design has excluded the end-user by failing to provide the passenger requirements who come from the city to board the buses.Sources said that during an inspection it was found that only one carriageway is provided in open space to MTC buses from the entry side along the parallel direction with mofussil buses coming into the intercity bus terminus towards parking area. There is no separate partition between mofussil bus entry and MTC bus operation, the sources added.
“We have sought sufficient parking space or bus bays for MTC buses to ensure smooth and reliable bus operation for the benefit of travelling public as we are proposing to operate more number of buses via GNT Road and Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus,” the sources added.MTC sources apprehended that if the required parking bays are not allocated for MTC buses, it may kill the purpose of building the terminus.
When Express contacted a senior CMDA official, he denied the bus terminus has any safety issues. He said that they are looking into the demand to have partition and increase the parking space for MTC buses.
However, this is not the sole issue. One of the issues affecting completion of work is the basement, which has been leaking every now and then. Since the land is a low-lying area, the officials have been facing this problem and hope to resolve it soon.