Nungambakkam High Road is a busy stretch where every inch of space seems to have been taken. Another striking feature is the lack of quiet. Chock-a-block with traffic, the road is noisy. Amidst the mind-wracking chaos, some people have found a new space and quiet to do their own thing. They have found a convenient place to park themselves in and consume alcohol, while the vehicles whiz past. They have ‘taken over’ a small patch of land, close to a TASMAC outlet located next to the foot-over bridge, and turned it into an ‘open bar”.
“The space is usually used as a parking spot for two wheelers. When the outlet gets crowded, people bring the bottles and glasses to this empty space and consume alcohol. The fact that this is dimly lit works out to their advantage,” says S. Parvathy, who uses the stretch to reach her bus stand. As there is no space to walk on the busy road, she is forced to use this patch of land, as are other pedestrians.
Sathish Kumar, a Nungambakkam resident, says, “The Tasmac outlet gets very crowded in the evening and people are seen having alcohol on a bench outside. Anyone who passes the stretch can easily spot them drinking. To make things worse, people use other empty spaces to drink. They not only use the vacant space, but also walk up the foot-over bridge and drink. Since the lift attached to the foot-over bridge is closed after 8 p.m. and the operator leaves, there is no one to stop the miscreants. Women and children use the walk-way and in the absence of a security personnel, we can only imagine the danger they are in. ”In the early hours, the space is strewn with plastic glasses and bottles. When we clean the space in the morning, we find broken bottles and other food items. Anyone walking here can be hurt if they don’t notice the glass pieces,” says a cleaner.
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Residents demand a regular surveillance at the area to ensure that alcohol is not consumed out in the open there.