Vellore residents seek town buses to added areas of Corporation

VELLORE: Local residents miffed over the poor frequency of town bus services to added areas like Sathuvachary and Katpadi submitted a petition to Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan recently.

“Though Vellore Municipality was upgraded into a Corporation in 2011 by the then DMK government by adding areas like Katpadi and Sathuvachary here has not been much improvement in town bus services,” said Gandhinagar Makkal Sevai Mandram general secretary SN Janardhanan.

The two main bus services connecting Katpadi and Bagayam through routes 1 and 2, which existed then, are the only two town services this city can boast of, he added.

Both routes start from Katpadi and split at the Venketeswara School junction with one route covering Velapadi, Sainathanapuram, Sankaranpalayam, Virupakshipuram and Otteri to reach Bagayam while the other route uses the Krishnanagar-Thorapadi route to reach Bagayam.

“Those wanting to reach Sathuvachary from Katpadi need to alight at the old bus stand and change buses with the same problem being confronted by those wanting to reach the Golden Temple, Madhinagar, employment exchange, Vanchur and Kazhinjur from Katpadi said S Bageerathan of Gandhinagar.

“Similarly, the above areas cannot be reached from Sathuvachary also without changing buses,” says Janardhanan.

The Corporation has enough buses, which leave the old bus stand and ply via adjoining areas. But, there is no inter connectivity between the Corporation’s 4 zones, said V Palani, another resident.

An official seeking anonymity said, “Vellore’s topography with hills and the Palar make it difficult to connect all areas. However we are working to improve bus connectivity shortly.”