Residents of Raja Annamalai Puram are at their wits end over encroachments in a section of the residential area.
“A public latrine facility of the Chennai Corporation has been constructed adjacent to the Corporation shopping complex on one side of Third Cross Street (towards Greenways Road). It has been encroached. A small shop and a house have come up on the premises”, K. R. Ramachandran, a resident of R. A. Puram, said.
“The thoroughfare has enough space to accommodate footpaths and a parking slot. On both sides, the civic body has constructed a shopping complex, and let them out to commercial establishments. Vehicles coming to the establishments are parked indiscriminately preventing pedestrians from using the well-laid walker’s path.
The parking slot is used by a finance company to park its vehicles seized from owners, who have not paid their dues. Shoppers are deprived of their parking rights at the entrance to the complex.”
The residents want the civic body to remove the encroachments on the premises of the public toilet, take action against the finance company, and earmark a parking slot at the entrance of the complex.
“The pavements of the Canal Bridge on the thoroughfare are used as an open toilet. Vehicles are parked adjacent to the heightened pavements forcing pedestrians to walk on the road. It is a common sight to see people using the pavements to relieve themselves,” S. Mahalakshmi, a resident pointed out.
The Canal Bank Road, on the either side of Mandaiveli Mass Rapid Transit System, is used by mechanic to park vehicles. More than 100 vehicles are parked on both sides hampering free flow of vehicular traffic. The thoroughfares resemble Pudupet, the residents added.
“A car and a motorcycle cannot travel, side by side. Adding fuel to fire, garbage is dumped. And then, the potholes also make walking on the encroached thoroughfare a unpleasant experience for walkers,” residents said.
Some residents alleged that a few others in the locality have encroached the walking space to cultivate plants and have raised a fence around the garden. “We are forced to walk on the roads. This makes pedestrians vulnerable to accidents. The danger is high during peak hours in the morning and evening.” Repeated calls to the civic authorities concerned evoked no response.
