If you thought parking your vehicle on a road identified for the construction of a parking lot would be a safe bet, think again. The Metro Rail project may just come in your way.
This week, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has asked the Chennai Corporation to remove certain roads from its list of stretches earmarked for parking lots. These stretches, short-listed last year by the city traffic police for the Corporation, will be unavailable for parking as traffic diversions will come into effect to make way for Metro Rail construction.
Stretches including Frazer Bridge Road, Blackers Road and General Patters Road will have no parking space for a few months. Some stretches already have diversions in place and parking has been discontinued on them.
Last year, the civic body had joined hands with the city traffic police to cope with the increasing number of obstructions on roads caused by haphazard parking. The traffic police had them compiled a list after a study of congested stretches across 11 zones in the city.
Officials in each of these zones had been asked to use the traffic police’s list and increase the number of parking lots in their areas.
The Corporation was in the process of commissioning parking lots on the roads short-listed by the traffic police. However, this plan is now being modified to take into account space taken over by Metro Rail and more roads are likely to be taken off the list as Metro work progresses, an official said.
Royapuram, with over 120 parking lots will emerge as the zone with the largest number of lots in the city. Roads such as Ramanathan Salai, Wallajah Road, Harris Road, Rajaji Salai, EVK Sampath Salai and Vepery High Road will be much better in terms of parking space. Anna Nagar will have as many as 72 new parking lots .
Roads in Tondiarpet, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Ambattur, Teynampet, Kodambakkam, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Adyar and Perungudi zones will be among the stretches where parking lots will come up.
This apart, the traffic police will also intensify action against those parking on stretches not on their list, an official said.
The Corporation also recently decided to hand over a total of 496 stretches in the city — including those that come under the traffic police’s list — to TEXCO (Tamilnadu Ex-Servicemen’s Corporation Limited) to make them available for the parking of vehicles.
At present, personnel appointed by TEXCO have been permitted by the State government to collect Rs. 5 per six hours or Rs. 20 per day for the parking of cars on these roads. Motorcycles or three-wheelers are permitted to park free of charges, according to a government order.
However, with Metro Rail work speeding up, the Corporation will now have to revoke parking permission on many of these stretches, an official said. This will be decided depending on the progress of Metro Rail work in the area, he added.
