The traffic at Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) is almost always in the news. A Public Interest Litigation filed by a 63-year-old commuter has once again put the spotlight on OMR and its traffic situation.
In response to the PIL, the Madras High Court recently directed the Commissioner of Police and Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) to reconsider the traffic changes made on a section of OMR.
In the litigation, P. Mahalingam, managing director of a private company functioning at Tidel Park, had drawn attention to the traffic arrangement introduced in July 2017 on the service road from Tidel Park to Madhya Kailash junction, and explained that it caused more problems than it solved.
“I made representations to the traffic police, TNRDC and other stakeholders, asking them to review the arrangement, but none responded. Then I filed an RTI,” says Mahalingam in a telephonic interview with The Hindu Downtown from United Kingdom. The Sastri Nagar resident, who is pursuing a masters programme at Oxford University, shuttles between India and the UK.
According to Mahalingam, the transportation survey for understanding the flow of vehicles on the stretch from Tidel Park to Madhya Kailash junction had not been done properly. There are hundreds of vehicles leaving Tidel Park and many more, Ramanunjan IT City.
“In any good plan, the shortest route would be found for vehicles to make an exit. It would also be time-sensitive,” he says.
Mahalingam says the side road in front of Tidel Park was designed to handle traffic from Elnet and Tidel Park. The road has developed corrugations because of the heavy flow of traffic. Traffic to Ramanujam City and Madhya Kailash should not be diverted through this lane.
“Exit from Tidel should be from the four lane junction for easy evacuation.”
Mahalingam says that although a majority of the people are fed up with the increasing traffic congestion in the city, many don’t have the time or energy to take up traffic issues.
“I have decided to file a series of PILs to ensure the traffic problems in the city are resolved,” he says.
Voices that matter
“We have already made some changes in the traffic arrangement on the service road. The one-way arrangement would only be followed from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. My team is in discussion with the Tidel Park management to see what else can be done to ease the traffic. We want TNRDC to provide a cut at the Indira Nagar station; this would reduce congestion.”
Prem Anand Sinha
Joint Commissioner of police (traffic) south
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“OMR is getting chaotic by the day, and providing more cuts is not the solution to the problem. The u-turn at Indira Nagar station was closed in 2004 after many accidents took place there. We are not in favour of providing a cut at that point as that would only worsen the situation.
Panneerselvam
Senior Manager, TNRDC
Mail us your suggestions to ease the traffic flow on OMR to downtownfeedback@thehindu.co.in. Suggestions from readers will be shared with the traffic department.
