Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin put an end to the raging discussions on the newly opened Kilamabakkam bus stand in the southern periphery of Chennai by addressing the issue raised by the Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami in the Assembly on the persisting minor hitches that were plaguing the smooth operation of the bus terminus.
AIADMK member Sellur Raju, during question hour on Tuesday, first made a mention of the bus terminus being inaugurated without the completion of all the work, putting passengers to inconvenience, triggering a debate on the floor of House that saw Minister for CMDA, P K Sekar Babu, Transport Minister S S Sivasankar and Palaniswami expressing their views on the topic.
Finally the Chief Minister, referring to Palaniswami’s contention that the minor hitches should have been ironed out before the inauguration, said that even major hitches were there and they were also solved before declaring it open. If there had been any more deficiencies, the government was prepared to rectify them, Stalin said, inviting the members to visit the bus terminus and point out the flaws.
Responding to the complaint of Palaniswami that the bus terminus was lacking in facilities, said that there were dormitories for staff with 300 beds, canteens, hospital, a park spread out in 6 acres and also a climate change park, while work on the construction of a foot over bridge and railway station were on.
The place would soon be connected by Metro Rail and there had been no complaints on the availability of drinking water or food or milk on the premises, he said, adding that the only grievance of some persons had been that there was no bus connectivity to Kilambakkam between 12 midnight and 4 am.
Sekar Babu said that only a person who was sleeping could be woken up and not someone who pretended to sleep to drive home the point that those who were grumbling about the new bus terminus were doing it deliberating with a view to blaming the government for some reason on the other.
The Transport Minister also offered to take the MLAs to the bus terminus to enable them check the availability of facilities there and to dispel Palaniswami’s charge that they had shown haste in the inauguration.
Averring that only 30 per cent of the construction on the bus terminus was completed during the AIADMK regime though the project was envisaged and work started on its implementation during their tenure. It was the DMK government that completed the bus terminus construction and made it a modern facility.
Referring to the comparisons drawn between the Koyambedu bus terminus and Kilambakkam terminus, the Minister said that Koyambedu occupied 33 acres of land while the new one had been built on 86 acres with the DMK government spending Rs 100 crore in incorporating several modern facilities. He referred to facilities like trolleys to carry luggage and lifts at Kilambakkam that were not there in Koyambedu.
He said that it took seven years for Koyambedu to become operational after it was inaugurated in 2002 while on the 45th day of its opening 245 buses were operated from Kilambakkam and on February 10 alone 1,07,000 passengers had used the terminus.
