Encroachment, litter plague new bus stand

VELLORE: The list of woes related to Vellore new bus stand, built at a cost of Rs 53 crore, inaugurated by Chief Minister MK Stalin in 2021 seems to be endless.

Add lack of supervision of the facilities to the list say sources.

The bus stand’s 87 shops, including 12 for common purposes like rest rooms, breastfeeding rooms, police outpost etc. – fared poorly in the auctions resulting in only 7 shops of the 75 available on the ground and first floors receiving bids the first time due to the high rents demanded.

Successive auctions whittled down this number. “75 per cent of the shops have been auctioned and the remaining 25 per cent will also be auctioned soon,” said Vellore Mayor Sujatha Ananda Kumar.

However, problems for the public started once the shops were opened. Not satisfied with the premises allotted, shopkeepers now encroach on the public path with each shop up to nearly 5 feet of the circulating area. “They keep racks of water bottles and plastic trays to demarcate their encroached area,” said Vellore consumer federation president K Sathiyamoorthy.

What is galling is that the local body’s garbage collection vehicles are also being parked inside the passenger movement area. It is common to see two-wheeler riders, including policemen, moving on the passenger platforms.

The premises is also full of litter. The vehicle movement area in front of the terminus is now being encroached upon by vendors.

Though the local body has posted private security personnel, they prefer to just sit out their duty hours “not wanting to antagonise either shop keepers or public,” a source revealed. “Then what is the purpose of having security personnel there,” asks Sathiyamoorthy. Though there is a police outpost, it is yet to be operational. On being informed of this state of affairs, the Mayor said, “I will undertake an inspection of the facility soon.”