New bus stand at Sankagiri in Salem remains unused for years

Sankagiri town panchayat Executive Officer Sulaiman Sait said staffs were deployed to divert the town buses into the bus stand. We have slapped a fine on the trucks and other vehicles parked in the bus stand.

A bus stand constructed at Sankagiri in Salem district at ₹1.54 crore remains unused for several years. Though the town panchayat officials have asked the buses to use the facility, the public are not using it.

The new bus stand was constructed at Sankagiri, located 38 km from Salem city, and it was inaugurated in October, 2009. At first, all the buses entered the bus stand that also had 34 shops. But after a few years, after passengers preferred not to use it, buses started to pick up passengers on Salem-Sankagiri Road. Due to this, most of the shops in the bus stand were closed, and private vehicles were parked in the bus stand.

S. Vinoth, a resident of Sankagiri, said the new bus stand was located 1.5 km from the old bus stand and hence the public were not using it. Sankagiri Court, Edappadi, and Tiruchengode Road Junction were located closer to the old bus stand. Though the old bus stand was demolished, commuters were still using the open space.

T. Ulaganathan of Old Edappadi Road said that as people were not coming to the new bus stand, most of the shops were closed. Only the shops facing the main road were functioning. Lorries and other private vehicles were using bus stand premises for parking. For the past one week, the town panchayat had put barricades before the bus stand, forcing buses to enter it.

Sankagiri town panchayat Executive Officer Sulaiman Sait said staff were deployed to divert the town buses into the bus stand. Fine was collected from those who parked lorries and other private vehicles in the bus stand. Four-lane works would be completed on Tiruchengode-Omalur Road and Konganapuram-Sankagiri Road soon. After that, it would be easy for the passengers to reach the new bus stand. Likewise, an Uzhavar Sandhai was going to function near the new bus stand. So, more people would start using the bus stand, he said.