Road closure irks residents at Guduvanchery

After the road was blocked, the residents here are forced to take a circuitous route to reach the Gudvanchery-Nillikuppam road. According to the people, the route that they have been using for years together enabled them to reach their destination faster. It was used by scores of school and college students and office goers for years together, and a traffic signal was fixed there permanently to regulate the flow of vehicles.

“After this route was blocked, taxi drivers are not willing to come inside for pickup. Now we need to walk from our homes to the GST Road if we are to hail taxis,” said a resident ofGuduvanchery.

Though there is a service road, most of it has been encroached by shops, while the remaining space is filled chock-a-block with vehicles. Such is the congestion on the service road that even ambulances cannot go through it, according to the residents here.

A few days ago, hundreds of people had gathered outside the office of the local Deputy Superintendent of Police and filed a petition to open the road and also seeking the eviction of encroachments from the service road.

“The school students and officegoers suffer a lot as they cannot use the service road which is encroached. Now we need to travel extra distance on the GST Road to reach our destination,” said GK Loganathan from Guduvanchery.

DSP Valavan toldDT Next that the road towardsGuduvanchery was blocked only to control the traffic flow on to the GST Road. “We have received a petition from the people. We will consider it and take necessary steps. The encroachments on the service road will be removed soon, but for that we need support from the people,” he said.