CHENNAI: At the first authority meeting of Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), Chief Minster MK Stalin directed the officials to improve transportation facilities for school and college students keeping the school timings in mind. The meeting was held here in Chennai, on Thursday, 12 years after the CUMTA Act was passed.
In the meeting held at the recently inaugurated Chennai Metrorail Limited headquarters, M K Stalin, who is also the chairman of CUMTA, directed the officials to study improving the important junctions and the roads where schools and colleges are located to provide easy access to educational institutions for students, I Jayakukar, special officer of CUMTA, said.
During the meeting, Stalin launched an exclusive website for the authority. An official, who took part in the meeting, said that details about CUMTA will be available at www.cumta.gov.in. “Presently the website is only available in English. However, measures are underway to launch the Tamil website,” he said.
It is learnt that the authority meeting has also given a go-ahead for projects such as providing train connectivity to Kilambakkam Bus Terminus. Also, discussions were held to redevelop MRTS stations. Approval has been given to implement a common ticketing system in the city.
It may be noted that CUMTA was passed in 2010 during the earlier DMK regime based on which the authority was constituted to plan and coordinate transit-oriented projects by implementing multi-modal transportation and improving mobility in the city. However, authority was under CMDA and defunct. Recently the state government amended the bylaws of the Act giving more power to the authority.
CUMTA has officials from Chennai Corporation, Highways Department, Transport Department, Southern Railway, Chennai Metrorail Limited, Police department and others as members, who took part in the first meeting.
Speaking at the meeting, Stalin emphasized the importance of public transport to reduce traffic on roads and pollution.
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