Last week, the traffic police department carried out an eviction drive at the Mada Streets by removing encroachments and vendors to ease traffic flow and help pedestrians walk freely.
However, not many vendors are happy with it and have once again returned to set up their shops in the pavements.
Speaking about the eviction drive, Sub-Inspector of the Mylapore Traffic Police, P Francis Mary said, “The problem of illegal parking and the encroachments of vendors has been existing for a very long time now and we are regularly carrying out this eviction drive to ease the traffic flow. Since a lot of people come to the temple, they need the pedestrian pathways to walk. With the shops it is blocked and mostly some shops especially in the North Mada Street extend till the road causing traffic congestion. To get away with the problem we have asked the vendors to move to other place.”
The Mada Streets were converted into a one-way more than a year ago and with constant monitoring of the traffic police, she believes that the problem of traffic jam has come under control.
“Since the streets were also cleared from the encroachments, the traffic flow is smooth at the moment. But the challenge is to maintain it throughout and we are constantly monitoring to keep it free, we are also working towards preventing illegal parking on the stretch,” she said.
Some shopkeepers on the South Mada street however are unhappy with the periodical eviction drive being conducted. Speaking about this, Nanda a vegetable vendor said, “We can sell anything on the pavement as long as we are not causing any obstruction to the pedestrians. But sometimes during festive seasons when the items which we sell increase, we are forced to occupy the pathway and some portion of the road, and the officials also have to understand it.”
“However, earlier, we used to get prior warning about the eviction and we prepare ourselves accordingly but now they come suddenly and if they find us encroaching, they take away all our things and go which is not good,” he added.
Most of the shopkeepers however is of the opinion that the problem of traffic congestion is not caused by them but by the bigger restaurants in the stretch. “People park their vehicles outside the eateries in a haphazard manner and that is the real cause of the traffic congestion We set up our shops only in the evening, however the Corporation and the traffic police think that it is us who cause it and ask us to move from the place,” says Devamani, a fruit vendor.