Govt bus skips stops in Chengalpattu villages; locals threaten to protest

CHENNAI: The villagers of Aapur, Sendhamangalam, and Thellimedu located on the stretch between Singaperumal Koil and Oradagam are facing hardships as the government bus drivers are skipping bus stops pertained to these villages.

The distressed villagers are planning for a protest as their school-going children are suffering every day. The villages are located near Oragadam and hundreds of students from the villages would travel to Oragadam or Chengalpattu for schooling.

Observing that the SETC bus drivers would not stop the buses even though there were students present at the bus stop, the locals said despite the children running behind the bus at times the driver and conductors would go past skipping the stops.

Eventually, the children resort to overcrowded share autos, thus risking their lives while travelling to school. On Monday morning, nearly 50 students were waiting at the Aapur bus stop for a long time and the SETC bus 82C which was heading towards Chengalpattu approached the stop but after seeing the crowd the driver accelerated and moved on.

Explaining the difficulties faced by the students, Yoganathan, a local villager said, “Though we reported the issue to the transport department repeatedly no action taken has been taken so far. In the coming days, we are planning for a huge protest by blocking the Singaperumal Koil-Oragadam Road,” he said.

The officials from the Transport department said that they have advised the drivers to stop the bus at all the stoppings. “Sometimes the buses might skip the stopping since it is already full to prevent the students from travelling on the footboard. We are also working on increasing the frequency of the buses on the route,” the official claimed.