Another festive season — Christmas is over, but New Year is round the corner — and the city is once again groaning under immense pressure from shoppers and commuters who in turn are struggling to find a place to park their cars.
As 2014 drew to an end, the city saw unfinished moves from the authorities, including notices against commercial establishments who have converted parking lots for other purposes, removal of encroachments, and prohibition on parking on either side of the MG Road during peak hours. However, what stood out as a sore point was the inabilityto find alternative parking spaces. Discussions on opening up some potential sites — Putharikandam grounds, Attakulangara government school, and a few other schools and colleges — for parking dragged on.
The road-repair season is upon us and the surface of many thoroughfares which had been washed away in the monsoon has received a fresh coat of tar in the past few days. But some areas continue to remain neglected. One such stretch is the one from Vazhuthacaud Junction to Edappazhinji which passes in front of the Cotton Hill school. An untarred patch runs through one side of the road. The patch was left untouched after cabling work a few months ago and motorists who tend to ride towards the side of the road have been finding this stretch hard to negotiate.
