The inter-State check-post at Walayar that had witnessed heavy rush of goods vehicles in the past few days resulting in traffic jams had a deserted look when Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Sourabh Jain visited there on Tuesday for an on-the-spot study about the issue.
The top official who was surprised to see a deserted check-post enquired with the officials about the ‘disappearance of large number of vehicle overnight’ from the jammed check-post.
Prior information
An official at the check-post reportedly “confessed” to him that they had prior information about the visit of the Joint Commissioner. So the check-post officials took steps to clear the vehicles that had been waiting since Monday leaving behind only the vehicles that had arrived on Tuesday morning.
Though only six to seven of the total 12 counters had been functioning earlier, on Tuesday 11 counters were working.
After visiting the various check-posts at Walayar, the Joint Commissioner told reporters that the department was taking various steps to find a permanent solution to the frequent traffic jams and delay in clearing goods vehicles coming to the State.
He said that 15 more officials who were posted to Walayar Commercial Taxes check-post would be joining duty in a couple of days. This would ease the situation.
He said that a permanent solution to the problem was the construction of an integrated check-post at Walayar for which land acquisition had begun earlier. But the matter was in the court now.
The integrated check-post would have a spacious yard to park the goods vehicles that would avoid the present practice of parking them on both sides of NH-47, leading to traffic blocks.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party took out a protest march to the check-post on Tuesday demanding the government to take steps to avoid the delay in clearing goods vehicles and the subsequent traffic blocks.
Inaugurating the protest march at the check-post, BJP district president C. Krishnakumar said that the traffic block had put the general public who travelled between the two States in great hardship. Even ambulances with patients in serious conditions going to hospitals in Coimbatore had to wait for hours, they said.
