CHENNAI: The Chennai City Traffic Police have proved to be only partially victorious in their fight to free pavements of encroachments and ensure maximum utilisation of the existing road space. While the initiative was well received by people in central and south Chennai, it is almost a flop in the northern parts of the city. According to Additional Traffic Commissioner, Sanjay Arora, the traffic police kickstarted a drive to remove encroachments on pavements a month ago. “The pavements are largely occupied by shopkeepers, who encroach upon the platforms, leaving little space for the pedestrians to walk. Similarly, the hawkers spread their shops on the road creating bottlenecks for smooth movement of vehicles,” he observed.The drive was carried out in about 40 roads across the city. The policemen ensured that the goods on display on the pavements made their way back into the shops. Besides, one side parking system was also introduced on a few arterial roads in an attempt to ease traffic. “The new initiative has improved the traffic scenario on the Quaid-E-Milleth Road (Triplicane High Road) to a certain extent,” said C Syed, a shopkeeper. “Shop owners and hawkers no longer crowd the pavements for displaying their goods. We tell our customers to park their two-wheelers on the side earmarked for the purpose.”The traffic police have placed cones along the kerb of the road to prevent parking of vehicles. Also, yellow lines are drawn on the road sides to restrict street vendors from occupying more space on the road. Dakshinamurthy, a hawker on Thyagaraya Road in Pondy Bazaar, pointed out that the menace of doll sellers has come to an end. “The scene of dolls tied on to the branches of trees or placed on top of parked cars is no longer seen,” he added.However, a few street vendors in Pondy Bazaar continued to breach into the road, breaking the yellow line rule.The situation in parts of central and north Chennai was quite striking with bicycles returning to occupy pavements on Broadway Road, pushing the pedestrians out on to the cramped road. Similarly, the yellow lines have disappeared, as the fruit and vegetable vendors have encroached upon a good portion of the NSC Bose Road.Additional Commissioner-Traffic, Sanjay Arora, said that the traffic police would continue their efforts to press for an encroachment-free carriageway and pavements in the city.
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