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Who stole my pavement? Main road turns into pavement for pedestrians in MGR Nagar
The state of pedestrian infrastructure on Anna Main Road in MGR Nagar is alarming and requires immediate attention. All kinds of violation, including illegal parking, encroachment by shops, damaged footpaths and presence of places of worship on the pavement lead to a dangerous situation where people are forced to walk on the road amid traffic.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
The road is home to ESI Hospital which is frequented by many people from low- and middle-income backgrounds, who mostly use public transport. The Government Physiotherapy College too is located on the road. Despite heavy foot traffic on the road, as a result, the footpaths are either encroached, poorly maintained or non-existent.
Vehicles are haphazardly parked on the pavements by those who visit the hospital and other shops and eateries on the road.
They block the path of pedestrians who have to wade into dangerous traffic to use the road. Shops have also taken over bulk of the pavement.
Many eateries and tea stalls have been set up to cater to the people who frequent this road. The stalls block pavements. Adding to this, the shopkeepers have laid chairs for their customer on the footpath.
“Those who visit the hospital are mostly my customers. We do good business here and do not plan to shift as this is my main source of income. If some alternative arrangements are made that won’t affect it I could consider it, but no one had ever raised any issue about my stall,” said Muthu, a tea shop owner on the road.
Other feature that is commonly seen on the road is broken footpaths and dangerous open drain that has been covered using tree branches.
This poses a threat to those who use the footpath as they could injure themselves. Children also run the risk of falling into the drain that has been improperly closed with just a few feeble branches that are laid over them.
There are also sections where wooden planks have been placed over broken footpaths to cover the drain belle. This presents the same aforementioned risk if unaddressed.
The road also sees littering and overflowing bins that interfere with pedestrian movement due to their placement on the sides. There is also street furniture that are improperly placed impeding pedestrians.
A locked up public toilet is also situated on the side and the poor maintenance has led to foul odour that prevents people from using the sidewalk.
A place of worship has also taken over a section of the footpath and space for pedestrians with potted plants placed to remark the worship area where pedestrians usually walk.
Calls to the Zonal Officer of the area from DT Next regarding the situation went unanswered.
—If you have been robbed of your pavement, write to us. Send us a note and a picture, and we will carry it in this column. Email us at citizen.dtnext@dt.co.in
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