Pavements on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai turns parking space for used car sellers

CHENNAI: Footpaths in the city seem to be the ideal space for showrooms to exhibit their products. Case in point: pavements on the Retteri-Senthil Nagar stretch of Jawaharlal Nehru Salai are occupied by used cars, sold by showrooms occupying the pavements along the, the pedestrians were forced to walk on the arterial road, risking their safety.

The arterial road has become narrow with the construction of the phase 2 of the Chennai Metro Rail underway along the stretch.

Especially from Senthil Nagar to Retteri flyover (1.5 km), pavements on both sides of the road are filled with hundreds of parked cars, which forces pedestrians to walk on the road. “What’s the use of having pavements when they are either used as a parking space or as space to sell food?” lamented Nasir, a tailor in the area. “Last week at night time, a few people removed the 5-metre stainless steel handrails for fun.”

Since it’s a Highway, the road witnesses high movement of heavy vehicles throughout the day and also at night. A week ago, while walking along the road, the woman was hit by a bike and escaped with minor injuries.

A resident of Ambedkar Nagar, who has been living there for over 5 years, averred: “There are always hundreds of cars parked on the pavement. Though we want to file a complaint, the political influence of these showroom owners have stopped us from going through with it.”

As if used cars are not enough to block the pavement, there is another challenge of uncleared construction debris and road waste, just 500 metres before the ramp of the Retteri flyover (towards Madhavaram). “Though cleanliness workers were sweeping the road, the debris and road waste on the pavement was not removed. Roads are dug up for repair works, but after they’re completed, nobody cleans the place,” stated a pedestrian.

When contacted, an official from the Highways department told DT Next, “We had informed the traffic police to clear the cars parked on the footpaths. Due to the re-laying of the Metro Water pipeline and CMRL works, construction debris was left on the road. The issue of damaged pavements and hand railings will be resolved at the earliest.”