For long, the Coimbatore Corporation had wanted to shift the omni bus stand out of Sathyamangalam Road in Ganapathy to a place outside the city to bring down traffic congestion. It mooted several proposals, passed a few resolutions in the Council but nothing materialised.
The Corporation had identified 8.44 acre near the Codissia complex that belonged to the Boodhan Board. It had proposed to take over the land along with another 2.73 acre that was in possession of a few individuals to establish the omni bus stand in Vilankurichi. The Corporation had also proposed a 60-feet road.
But nothing happened. The district administration wrote to the State Government saying that the land could be used to build a regional transport office.
After a delay, the Corporation once again made an attempt in January this year to shift the bus stand. This time, the civic body had one more reason other than traffic congestion – that the proposed flyover in Gandhipuram necessitated the shifting of the bus stand.
After passing a resolution in the Council, the civic body wrote to the Divisional Engineer, National Highways, Coimbatore, asking for 10.38 acre that was in its possession in Neelambur Panchayat under two survey numbers. It said it would pay for the land.
The Corporation also wrote to the District Collector for fixing a price for the land there to arrive at the money to be paid to the National Highways. The Corporation sent the two letters on March 13 this year.
Sources in the National Highways said that the Coimbatore office had referred to the Chief Engineer’s office in Chennai, where it was at the discussion stage. The demand the Corporation had made was first of a kind as there was no precedence of National Highways handing over its land to a State agency.
From the Chennai office, the file would be sent to the Regional Officer, who was in charge of three or four Southern States. And, in all likelihood, things would be decided only in New Delhi as nowhere the National Highways had given away its land. It was not like handing over a National Highway road as the land was an asset, the sources explained.
And they added that the lack of precedence was likely to delay the decision making process.
