THANJAVUR: Even after the inauguration of a separate terminus for them more than one year ago, omni bus drivers continue to halt the vehicles near the new bus stand on the Government Raja Mirasdar Hospital road to pick up passengers daily, choking traffic on the arterial stretch and posing danger to road users.
Earlier, private buses that are operated to places like Chennai used to be parked near the old bus stand for several hours. As this caused traffic jams, residents demanded that an exclusive space be allocated for these buses. Subsequently, a terminus for omni buses was constructed at Rs 10.41 crore near Thanjavur old bus stand under the Smart Cities Mission. The terminus, which has 25 bus bays and other amenities including toilets, cloak rooms and shops was opened in October 2023.
However, barring few, most private operators continue to park the buses on the Raja Mirasdar Hospital road. D Mathivanan, the vice-president of the Federation of the TNSTC workers unions, said, "We have been demanding that omni buses should not be allowed to park on the road. Besides blocking movement of ambulances, there have been problems in operating TNSTC buses plying to and from the old bus stand located nearby. Even after building a separate terminus, most of the omni buses are being operated from the hospital road, which defeats the purpose of creating the infrastructure at Rs 10 crore."
Mayor S Ramanathan told the TNIE notices are being regularly issued to the omni bus operators to operate only from the terminus. The traffic police was also informed to clear the buses from the road. When contacted, Superintendent of Police R Rajaram told TNIE that he will look into the issue.