Citizen Connect: Traffic movement at snail’s pace due to haphazard parking on OMR in Tiruporur, commuters irked

The heavy vehicular traffic and haphazard parking of vehicles on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) in Tiruporur which that cause heavy traffic jam irk the commuters, as it takes up to one hour to cross the four-kilometre stretch from Tiruporur to Illalur.

According to sources, since there are many community halls and temples on the stretch that do not have a proper space for parking, people who visit these places park their vehicles on the road. This, in turn, slows downs the vehicular movement, resulting in traffic block on the road. Besides, the OMR road is one of the busiest roads in the city since there are many corporate firms located. Additionally, the tourists who need to visit Mahabalipuram also use the stretch to travel through Tiruporur.

A regular commuter and an IT employee Mahalakshmi said, “Everyday am I travelling by this route. Usually, I would take only 5-10 minutes to cross the Tiruporur-Illalur stretch but following this heavy traffic it’s taking nearly an hour to cross Illalur every day.”

The residents also claimed that after Chengalpattu was announced as a separate district, many travel through the stretch to reach the Collectorate, due to which the vehicle count has increased, thereby resulting in traffic congestion for the past few months. They also said that since there are not enough number of traffic police personnel to control the traffic, it becomes difficult during the peak hours, for the commuters to travel by the route and the office goers end up being late even if they start theirjourney early.

The commuters said that police should take action to stop the vehicles from being parked on the roadside. If there are no vehicles parked on the road, traffic congestion would be less, they said.

When contacted, the Tiruporur police inspector said, “ We don’t have enough number of the police force here. I have asked the help of the Panchayat and the temple to take steps to arrange for a parking space for the vehicles and would talk to them again regarding this.” The issue would be solved soon,he assured.