R. K. Mutt Road, which cuts through the heart of Mylapore, is yet another one of the city’s heavily congested roads with little space left for pedestrians. Even the narrow stretch that is meant for pavements has been encroached, complain residents of the locality.
Ravikumar Ramasami, a resident of Raja Street, Mandaveli, in his post on Friends of Chennai, wrote about the various hindrances a pedestrian faces on R.K. Mutt Road. The road is encroached by shopkeepers, hawkers, vehicles that park without authorisation and road-side eateries. Walking on a portion of the road is also difficult because of its bad condition. The senior citizen said: “The entire stretch of R.K.Mutt Road from Luz to Rani Meyyammmai School is a haven for encroachers and as a result, people are forced to walk on the carriageway risking their lives. I really wonder why officials are not taking any steps to prevent the encroachments.”
While encroachment of roads by hawkers has become a common problem in the city, a section of social activists also note that removing hawkers is not going to resolve the problem.
Karunanidhi, Chennai Siru Vyabarigal Association, said that portraying hawkers alone as the cause of all problems faced by walkers was wrong as they in no way hindered movement. He said that hawkers have a right to do business on road margins and it has been proven in several places that hawkers and footpath users can co-exist in a peaceful manner.
A senior official of the Chennai Corporation said that the 2.6-km road has been included in the list of roads identified under the Non-Motorised Policy for developing footpaths of international standards. He said R.K. Mutt Road would be converted into a walker-friendly zone when the work was completed.
Sources in Chennai Corporation said that encroachments by shops are being removed on a regular basis. But, hawkers cannot be just removed as they have to be rehabilitated. “There is a court ruling that has to be followed. The government is in the process of formulating guidelines for relocating vendors. The town vending committee has to carry out a survey of vendors and look at their relocation,” the source explained.
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Caption: Unauthorised parking of vehicles is one of the major reasons for the chaos on the stretch in Mylapore — B. Jothi Ramalingam
