Chennai police, GCC evicts over 100 platform shops on Nelson Manickam Road

CHENNAI: In a joint operation on Thursday Chennai city traffic police along with the Greater Chennai Corporation removed at least 110 shops on the platform allegedly blocking the pedestrian movement over a stretch of 2-km on both sides from Loyola College subway to Ampa Skywalk on Nelson Manickam Road stretch on Thursday.

As part of Call for Action initiative, Chennai city traffic east zone organised the eviction and earlier the team successfully removed unauthorised obstructions and abandoned vehicles parked on the roadside and on the platforms at Pudupet, Anna Salai, and Langs Garden Road in Nariyankadu near Egmore.

The police team led by the deputy commissioner of police Samay Singh Meena removed the temporary shops, some of the extensions protruding from the shops and abandoned vehicles. Some small trucks parked by the side of the road blocking the motorable road to single lane, were also removed.

Because of the encroachment on the platform, many pedestrians are forced to use the road for walking and a few more people have used the road to park their vehicles permanently, police noted.

At least five abandoned two-wheelers and about 110 temporary shops were removed from the platform.

The Chennai traffic police have also planned to conduct similar raids on Greams Road and Dr Radhakrishnan Salai to remove the encroachments from the platforms soon.