Antisocial elements are taking advantage of unauthorised parking of omni buses on Kathipara Road inside Guindy Industrial Estate in Saidapet, especially at night.
Poor illumination — which is the result of having decades-old sodium vapour street lamps — is also helping these elements.
According to the Guindy police, there has been a spurt in thefts over the last few months.
On this stretch, tipplers can be seen consuming alcohol in the open. Motorists are said to be stopped by strangers who are in an inebriated state, under the pretext of seeking a lift. They then demand demand money and enter into unwanted arguments with motorists. Now, many motorists avoid the stretch and take a longer route via Ekkattuthangal and another route via a link road near the Saidapet police station on Anna Salai.
Besides this, Kathipara Road, which is 60-feet wide, has become narrow due to unauthorised parking. Repairs on buses are being carried out on the stretch.
Most residents of Saidapet, Guindy, Ekkatuthangal, Jafferkhanpet and CIT Colony use the 60-feet-Kathipara Road to reach GST Road instead of Jawaharlal Nehru Road at Ekkatuthangal or the Nandanam route. The hostel of Central Training Institute for Instructors is also located on this stretch.
“We pass through this stretch only in groups. Many strangers loiter around the place and we find the road unsafe,” says S. Divya, a resident of Saidapet.
According to police sources, some of these vehicles are lying abandoned on the stretch for many years.
To clearing these vehicles, the intervention of Greater Chennai Corporation is necessary.
Residents want the existing sodium vapour street lamps to be replaced with LED lamps and the abandoned vehicles that are encroaching upon both sides of Kathipara Road to be removed.
This will not only help free the movement of vehicles, but also ensure the safety of the public. “Necessary steps will be taken to clear these encroachments off Kathipara Road in Saidapet soon,” says a Corporation official.
