With Deepavali fast approaching, last minute shoppers made a beeline for Long Bazaar, Anna Salai, Arni Road, Officers Line, Arcot Road and Katpadi Road.
Traffic bottlenecks were reported near Green Signal, entrance of the new bus stand and Arcot Road all through the day. Vehicular movement between Benz Park and old bus stand area was hindered.
A resident of Vellore city for over four decades, S. Kalaiarasan said, “there are no walkers path on any of the roads and no efforts have been made to create one.”
Encroachments and haphazard vehicle parking have chocked Kripananda Variar Salai, also known as Long Bazaar. As vehicles continue to be parked on both sides of the commercial area, the space for vehicular movement was reduced.
“All stretches were congested with vehicles, pedestrians and vendors. The road got narrow near Nethaji Market resulting in traffic jam,” said a fruit vendor Annamalai from Bharatarami.
“This is not new and people have learned to live with these hindrances. No action is possible unless a there is a political will to remove encroachments and acquire land to widen the existing roads,” said R. Santhanam of Sathuvachari.
