E Footpaths on both sides of Veterinary Hospital Road, near Gandhiji Road, were encroached by textile shops forcing pedestrians to move on the main road causing traffic congestion and accidents.
The road connects Gandhiji Road with State Bank of India Road where hundreds of textile shops, mobile shops, banks and other commercial establishments were located. Thousands of people visit the weekly textile shops that function from Monday evening to Tuesday night. Also, people regularly visit the daily textile shops in the area. But, the footpaths meant for pedestrians were completely occupied by shopkeepers forcing the people to walk on the road. “A few shops have erected rooftop on the footpath and encroached the path completely”, said Manish, a pedestrian. “The Corporation officials are to be blamed as they have allowed shops to erect rooftops on footpaths for their business”, he added.
The Corporation had developed the 100-metre stretch as a smart road and constructed footpaths with railings for the benefit of the pedestrians. “But textile products were displayed on the footpaths and two-wheelers and cars were parked on the roads leading to congestion”, he added. While footpaths on both sides consume 16 metres of the total road width, the rest 24 metres available are used for unauthorised parking of vehicles leading to congestion throughout the day. Vehicles of shop owners, workers and customers’ vehicles were parked on the road leaving less than 15 metres of road space for vehicles from both the directions to move. “Traffic congestion is frequent in the stretch”, said R. Kannan, a motorist from Marapalam who wanted the encroachments on footpaths be removed and shopkeepers warned.
