Chennai Citizen Connect: Illegal parking eats into pavement along Tank Bund Road

CHENNAI: Hundreds of college students, office goers, and pedestrians who use the pavement alongside the compound wall of Loyola College near the Tank Bund Road to reach Nungambakkam Railway Station are facing major inconvenience every day.

Thanks to the large number of cars parked on the pavement, which obstructs pedestrian access to the footpath.

With footpaths encroached upon by pushcarts, vendors often use them for parking bikes, cars, and other vehicles, leaving pedestrians lamenting that pavements across the city are not meant for them.

The pedestrians who frequent the footpath highlighted that this isn’t the first time cars have been parked on the pavement, blocking the path on the Tank Bund Road.

A Praveen, a resident of Nungambakkam, alleged, “Most of the cars parked on the pavements by the college students seem like illegal parking and are allowed by the traffic police. Strict action is mandatory to curb the parking violations.” He added that in the peak hours in the evening, thousands of vehicles throng the Nelson Manickam Road and Tank Bund Road, leaving no space for pedestrians to walk on the road. Additionally, the public, rushing to the Nungambakkam Railway Station, end up missing trains at times.

Another pedestrian, Rohit, opined, “The pavements in the city are encroached by food vendors, commercial establishments, and are also used as a parking space. Walking on the pavement alongside the busy 300-metre stretch is both funny and horrible. For a few metres, I walk on the pavement, then get down to the road and again continue walking on the pavement.”

Commenting on the issue, traffic personnel on duty said, “The students and the public keep parking their cars on the pavement to get their vehicles out easily. We regularly impose fines for parking violations, and the number of cars parked on the pavement reduces for a few days after fine imposition. However, the illegal parking continues again.”