The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Pavement shops keep off pedestrians

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Saturday, May 23, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Pavement shops keep off pedestrians

R.Sujatha

Residents want police to take strict view of such encroachments that deny them walking space

— PHOTO: B. VELANKANNI RAJ.

Denial of right: Pedestrians are forced to walk on the road as shops spread their wares on the pavement on Village Road.

CHENNAI: In the triangular battle for space involving pedestrians, motorists and pavement shops, the pedestrians invariably are edged out. Such a situation in which the shops eat into the space meant for pedestrians, thereby forcing them to use the carriageway is not particular to one locality, but a problem confronting the entire city.

A case in point is that of T.Nagar. Footpaths on Usman Road are almost lost to the vendors. Increasingly pedestrians using Village Road that connects to Nungambakkam, Thanikachalam Road and the North Usman Road-Bazullah Road junction, and Kasturibai Nagar in Adyar, are finding to their dismay that the space meant for them is only shrinking.

On Village Road, the shops in the market have spread their ware on the pavement and do not allow pedestrians space even on Sundays, residents of the area said.

For the last seven or eight years a couple of mango shops occupy the pavement during the season along Kasthuribai Nagar 3rd Cross Street, which links Indira Nagar and Thrivanmiyur.

“For the past several years the place near the community hall has been occupied by mango vendors and there are plenty of buyers since the mangoes are cheaper here. By June 20 they vacate the space,” said Shakunthala Ram Mohan, a resident of Nehru Nagar 1st Street. “Though consumers consider it a boon, those living in the apartment complexes nearby are irritated,” she added.

A resident on Kasturibai Nagar 3rd Cross Street said the police had resorted to locking cars parked on the street. “People park in front of shops but it is our vehicles that the police have targeted.”

“It is a tussle between the livelihood of the vendors and the pedestrians. The vendors could be allowed on the interior roads. This would prevent longer waits at the signal,” another resident living on the street suggested.

A.B. Muthukumar, a resident of Rajachar Street, T. Nagar, said bunk shops had sprung up at the Bazullah Road junction. “The shops have also put up iron railings,” he said. There are such shops along the Jeeva Park on G.N. Chetty Road also.

The affected residents want the police to take a strict view of such encroachments that deny them walking space.

After the Pondy Bazaar market was razed to make way for a multi-storeyed shopping complex, many shops shifted to the space allotted on the Thanikachalam Road pavement. On Sundays, the shops display their wares on stools, often on the road. Customers park their two-wheelers and cars near the shop to make purchases, thus disrupting traffic flow at the busy Thyagaraya Road junction. The other side of Thanikachalam Road has been converted into a stop for share autos and buses.

Chennai Corporation officials said that the shops on this stretch would be removed and pavement re-laid once the new shopping complex is ready. The residents, however, say that removing the shops would not be an easy task.

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