Illegal parking of cars near temple in Chennai worry devotees

Chennai: Residents of Adyar in the city are not a happy lot due to a persistent parking trouble opposite Ellaimman Koil Temple in the locality.

According to sources, through the day and night, four-wheelers are illegally parked right behind a Primary Health Centre here.

K Venkatachalam, a resident said, “A number of cars are seen here at any given time. This is opposite to a temple too. The visitors are now suffering, as they do not have space to position their vehicles.”

What has angered the locals now is that the illegal parking is hampering activities in the shrine.

“The Aadi Thiruvizha is approaching. We do the ‘silai alankaram’ at the place where the vehicles are stationed. Before that, we want these to be cleared,” he said.

The problem has been persistent for the past eight months, even as residents say they do not know the owners of these automobiles.

While some suspect that it could be shop owners, Angamuthu, who resides here, states, “We think it belongs to people who live nearby. They might not have an allotted parking space, so they leave their vehicles here. The thiruvizha is going to begin on 10 August and will continue for three days. We want to put an end to this menace.”

Apart from the inconvenience caused by the parking, many feel that it is also risky for other motorists. This is surprisingly continuing even as a police station is located just a few meters away, so to say.

“A number of accidents happen here while taking U-turns. In fact, there are complaints lodged at the nearby police station too,” he adds.

Residents have now taken upon themselves to trace the ones responsible for this problem, it is learnt.