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Pattukottai residents demand railway line

Special Correspondent

Between Thanjavur and Pattukottai to reduce dependence on buses

PATTUKOTTAI: People of Pattukottai, who were shaken by the Friday bus tragedy in which 53 persons died, are demanding a railway line from Thanjavur to Pattukottai to reduce the heavy dependence on buses.

Though the demand was made many years ago, lobbying by private bus operators had successfully kept it in abeyance, said senior residents of the town.

While the government transport corporation operates 139 mofussil buses every day from Pattukottai, private companies operate 101 mofussil buses. The state transport corporation operates 31 town buses while private companies operate 13. There is a bus from Thanjavur to Pattukottai every five minutes from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m and one every 30 minutes at night after 9 p.m.

A railway line now exists in Pattukottai connecting Peravurani and Karaikudi and Thiruthuraipoondi. But, very few trains are being operated.

A railway line from Thanjavur to Pattukottai will considerably reduce the dependence on buses and give the people of Pattukottai and Thanjavur an alternate mode of travel, senior residents say.

They also say officials of the Police and Transport Departments should strictly enforce rules to prevent accidents. While the state transport corporation stopped services a day before the accident, at 5 p.m. on Thursday, considering the danger in operating buses on the overflowing causeway, private companies operated buses. Competition in the travel business and the greed of some private operators results in such kind of accidents, a senior resident said.

People, who are left with no alternative mode of travel, overcrowd the buses.

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