Unauthorised parking of vehicles along both sides of Rattan Bazaar Road in Park Town has made for difficult movement, for Pedestrians. The carriageway has shrunk. However, as the road is quite wide, this has not caused much of a problem for motorists.
With the footpaths as well as road space abutting it are overrun with stationary vehicles, pedestrians have a big problem to tackle. It’s an irony that these footpaths are spacious, and yet pedestrians are left without an exclusive walking space. A pedestrian, who doesn’t want to be named, says that motorcyclists (some of them coming from NSC Bose Road and proceeding towards commerical establishments on Rattan Bazaar Road) ride on the footpaths to avoid taking a U-turn and a longer route.
As Rattan Bazaar Road is a busy stretch that attracts shoppers from various parts of the city, failure to check such blatant violations of traffic rules can lead to accidents, this pedestrian adds.
It is said that some pedestrians have requested the Chennai Traffic Police and the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to attend to the twin issues of unauthorised and haphazard parking on the road. Rattan Bazaar Road comes under the jurisdiction of Zone 5 of Greater Chennai Corporation. It may be noted that towards Narayanappa Road, Frazer Bridge Road and Evening Bazaar Road, the pavements have been taken over by vendors. Near the intersection of Frazer Bridge Road and Evening Bazaar Road, the pavement seems to have been taken over by vehicles, which include autos.
Besides, a ramp has been constructed on the pavement for members of the public to have access to a toilet.
And then, an Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) outlet of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) is located amidst the row of commercial establishments. After consuming liquor at the outlet, tipplers sit or doze off at the pavement causing inconvenience to pedestrians.
Efforts to contact the authorities concerned at GCC proved futile.
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