Residents of Kancheepuram district, who have to cross toll plazas at Sriperumbudur and Paranur, complain of frequent pile-ups at these locations.
Sayeed, a cab driver, who crosses the plazas often, said that the very purpose of creating four-lane carriageways seems to have been lost as vehicles are forced to slow down near the toll plazas to pay the fee.
“Pile-ups are caused due to various reasons, including closure of lanes. On many occasions, the equipment inside the toll booths don’t work and staff provide tokens using hand-held devices, causing further delay. Very often due to delay in issuance of fee tokens we keep the engine running thus nullifying the mileage advantage gained by driving on the road,” he said adding that since very few vehicles take the last lanes meant for those having the FasTag cards only limited lanes are available for others.
Further, lack of lane discipline among the motorists also adds to the problem. Heavy vehicles occupying the lanes meant for light motor vehicles (LMVs) and the LMVs lining up in the lane earmarked for buses and goods carriers is a common scene at these plazas, said Vinod, Kancheepuram resident, who travels to Puducherry. The problem compounds when special services of State Transport Corporation buses are operated since their registration numbers are not enlisted with the toll plaza.
As far as FasTag, the pre-paid radio frequency ID card is concerned, a cab operator Neelakantan of Kancheepuram said that they could not opt for the same as the possibility of their vehicles hired to pass through that toll plaza regularly in a given month was remote.
National Highways Authority of India sources said that at the Sriperumbudur plaza, land acquisition process is on for adding more lanes. “Temporary lanes have been created with the available space. The extra lanes are opened during peak hours and during emergency,” the official said adding that steps would be taken to prevent traffic pile-up at both the plazas.
( With inputs from Deepa H. Ramakrishnan )
