The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : New-look GH bus shelters opened

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 03, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

New-look GH bus shelters opened

Staff Reporter

The five concrete structures have pillars and benches with granite topping

OPEN AT LAST: The new-look bus shelters built along the compound wall of the Government General Hospital in Chennai, opposite the Central Railway Station, was opened a few days ago. — Photo: M. Vedhan

CHENNAI: The new-look General Hospital bus stop shelters are once again open to commuters.

The delay of several months in executing the work put commuters to great inconvenience, especially during the rainy season.

General Hospital employee and commuter Chandrasekhar says he has been using the new shelters from February 25.

The five concrete shelters have pillars and benches with granite topping. Boards with destinations and bus routes have been placed on both sides of each shelter.

"It is definitely better," says Alamelu from Ambattur before rushing to catch 2A.

The regular shelters were pulled down in April 2005, soon after the renovated GH building was inaugurated. The then Metropolitan Transport Corporation chairman, C.T. Meyyappan, had said that the Corporation would soon construct "new shelters" in front of the GH as the earlier ones were in a "dilapidated condition."

However, commuters had to stand right on the road in midsummer and later, when it poured during the monsoon.

The MTC, which planned to construct the shelters with the help of PWD (Public Works Department) or the health department, was later eased out as officials said that they could not find enough sponsors to fund the project.

"We gave Rs. 5 lakh to the project," says a senior MTC official.

The PWD completed the shelters at a cost of Rs. 25 lakhs, says a senior health department official. "We looked at various designs and settled on this as we did not want a concrete structure jutting out, right in front of the new GH building," explains the official, when asked about the delay. The official added that the current structure does not require "high maintenance" from the PWD.

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