Thrissur: Agriculture minister and Thrissur MLA V.S. Sunil Kumar promised that he would allot Rs 2 crore from his MLA fund to enhance safety measures and other facilities at the KSRTC bus stand in Thrissur. The minister who spoke to mediapersons on Sunday after visiting the bus stand, said that it needed a comprehensive masterplan and discussions would be held with the transport minister and KSRTC MD. “The MD has promised to visit the bus stand soon and the details of the development plan will be announced after that. The enhancement of facilities will be done in such a way that the stand gets additional income,” he said.
The visit of the minister along with the MP, mayor and district panchayat president comes in the wake of a near miss at the bus stand on Friday in which a low-floor bus of the Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation jumped the stopper kerb at the bus bay and stopped after hitting a pillar. A major mishap was averted as those standing near the pillar ran to safety when they saw the bus coming at them.
In July 2015, in a similar incident, two visually-disabled persons died after a low-floor KSRTC bus lost control and hit them while they were sitting on the bench meant for commuters inside the stand. A young circulation executive of Mangalam newspaper had died in May 2014 after a KSRTC bus parked too close to another was reversed by a careless driver during the wee hours leading to the executive getting crushed between the buses. Meanwhile, Mayor Ajitha Jayarajan said that as the ‘Sky Walk’ that was to connect the Railway Station and the nearby KSRTC Bus Stand encountered several technical difficulties in implementation, the Corporation had planned instead to construct an underpass. MP C.N. Jayadevan said that he would allot funds for the underpass from his MP Local Area Development fund.
