Unauthorised parking of vehicles, mostly cabs on Gandhi-Irwin bridge in Egmore is posing safety risk to motorists especially during rush hour. Traffic police, who are posted at the ramp of the bridge, often remove the vehicles and warn the drivers but they reappear within a few years.
Home to government buildings such as Thalamuthu Natarajan Maligai, CMDA headquarters, a school and Fine Arts College, the bridge is a crucial link for MTC buses from Egmore railway station to reach Anna Salai via Chintadripet and Pudupet. Motorists use this stretch to reach Purasaiwalkam, Choolai, Park Town and Broadway.
“Though traffic police personnel are present at the two junctions at both ends of the bridge, cab drivers continue to violate traffic rules and park their vehicles along the roadside, blocking free movement of other vehicles,” says V. Ashok, a motorist from Royapettah.
Moreover, school students from the Dr. Ambedkar Government School, find it difficult to cross the intersection to go to the bus stop near Egmore railway station, as cabs are parked along the bridge obstructing their path.
Meanwhile, police say that cab operators wait here to pick and drop staff from the government offices and hotels nearby.
“This stretch has become a convenient waiting spot as the other stretches including Old Police Commissioner Office Road and Pantheon Road are no-parking zones.
“Also, some of the key stretches in Egmore are one-way routes especially during rush hour. Strict action against the cab drivers will be taken and their vehicles will be impounded soon,” says a police officer.
