MP M. Gurumoorthy with members of the central team at the APSRTC bus station complex in Tirupati on Sunday.

After a short break, the much-discussed project of a multimodal bus station in Tirupati is back in the spotlight: a team from the central government is visiting the temple city to examine its feasibility and functional feasibility.

The arrival of the central team led by Prakash Gaur, CEO, National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML), and Pooja Mishra, Project Director, on August 25 (Sunday) followed the meeting that MP for Tirupati, M. Gurumoorthy, had with Union Minister for Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari, in New Delhi last week.

Tirupati witnesses a large migratory population on a daily basis; the number of visitors runs up to 100,000, mainly in the form of devotees travelling to Tirumala and some who come for work to one of the numerous universities and government educational institutes like IIT and IISER.

The project is intended to create a comprehensive facility that will provide multiple transportation options to commuters. The proposed infrastructure will also be planned and implemented in line with the growing future needs of the city, with an aesthetic and traditional touch that is in tune with the spiritual backdrop of Tirupati.

Dr. Gurumoorthy, who inspected the bus station complex along with the team members, spoke to the media about the project. He said that the multimodal bus station project had taken shape much earlier but was delayed due to proposed design changes in the existing bus station building.

The proposed facility will include a bus station, commercial complexes, a pedestrian bridge, a skywalk connecting the bus station with the railway station, dormitories, charging stations for electric buses, etc., he said.

He asked the state government to quickly approve the administrative sanctions for this well-intentioned project.