Srirangam bustles with steady stream of devotees from all over Tamil Nadu as well as from other States every day.
Notwithstanding heavy arrival of pilgrims by buses, vans and cars, the town lacks proper parking lots for such vehicles leading to indiscriminate parking. Absence of dedicated parking lots often results in parking of vehicles along roadsides at different spots. It is a regular scene at Srirangam where tourist vehicles could be seen parked along Amma Mandapam road and on other roads causing traffic bottlenecks at least for brief duration.
The arrival of devotees peaks during the annual 21-day Vaikunta Ekadasi festival at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple when temporary parking lots are created for halting vehicles. However, there has been no permanent measure on the part of the authorities to have dedicated spots for parking vehicles. A sprawling vacant site along Salai Road serves as a makeshift parking lot for tourist buses many of which are parked along the Amma Mandapam road right under the nose of the law enforcers.
Nevertheless, for how long the vacant site along Salai Road would continue to serve as a parking lot for buses and vans remains to be seen. Drivers of tourist cars and vans look out for convenient spots along road sides and narrow stretches to halt their vehicles shrinking the existing road space. Traffic hold ups are a frequent phenomenon at the existing Srirangam bus stand and its vicinity that is dotted with commercial establishments.
Residents feel that the authorities and civic body should seriously look into the issue and make some permanent arrangements for parking of tourist vehicles in the wake of spurt in pilgrims’ movements.
Srirangam temple witnesses heavy influx devotees throughout the year. So, it is high time for the authorities to scout for land for parking of tourist vehicles as a long term solution, says M. Saravanan, a resident of Srirangam and the president (in-charge) of Congress south district.
Drivers of tourist vehicles conveniently park in residential areas posing problems for other vehicle users in the absence of any form of regulation and dedicated parking lots, says J. Ananthapadmanabhan, another resident of Srirangam.
Utter chaos prevails many a times at Srirangam bus and its vicinity, he says adding that space should be created for parking of vehicles to address the issue.