Citizen Connect: Illegal parking encroachments at Royapettah raise residents’ hackles

Haphazard parking on Royapettah High Road and Gaudiya Mutt Road, taking a huge bite out of the road space, leaves motorists with nothing but a narrow space to travel and cross the Royapettah intersection.

It takes more than 20 minutes to cross the intersection, especially during the rush hour. “Vehicular congestion on the narrow Gaudiya Mutt road is mainly due to the haphazard parking of vehicles,” said R Sekar, a resident of Royapettah. The thoroughfares are lined with commercial establishments. As most of the commercial establishments do not have a dedicated parking space for visitors, people have no choice but to have their vehicles parked on the roadside, he added.

With vehicles, particularly, two-wheelers parked in such a way, the pedestrians are forced to walk on the road. “As impatient motorists often ignore lane discipline, these pedestrians have to tread cautiously. Having been placed in the middle of the road, the garbage bins add to the chaos. On both the stretches, their presence has been hindering the traffic,” Sekar said.

With the Royapettah High Road’s two-way traffic and Gaudiya Mutt Road’s one-way traffic until the E2 Royapettah Police Station, traffic comes to a halt at the converging points of these two roads. “Many motorists use this thoroughfare to reach Mount Road, Triplicane and other areas in the vicinity. With Thiru-Vi-Ka Road, West Cott Road, and Whites Road, Royapettah having busy establishments, the traffic problem escalates,” Abdul Rahman, another resident of Royapettah said.

A resident of Gaudiya Mutt Road demanded the civic body and the city traffic police to act against the traders who encroach upon the pedestrian space by allowing illegal parking of vehicles. The traffic police said that they regularly tow vehicles parked in a haphazard manner on the road. “They blame traffic congestion on the growing vehicular population. We had installed traffic and pedestrian signals at the junction of Thiru-Vi-Ka Road, West Cott Road, and Royapettah High Road to ensure smooth movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” the police said.