The Hindu: Chennai: Monday, January 13, 2014.
The T. Nagar
Residents Welfare Association has sought the intervention of former Madras High
Court judge A. Ramamurthy to ensure their locality is free of footpath shops
and unauthorised parking.
The residents
took this decision following lack of response from the Chennai Corporation
commissioner and the additional commissioner of police (traffic).
Mr.
Ramamurthy is also the chairman of the hawking zone implementation committee.
In November,
the hawkers on both sides of the flyover on Usman Road were asked to shift to
the complex built by the Corporation in Pondy Bazaar. It had been decided by
the committee that the space beneath the flyover would be fenced permanently to
prevent unauthorised parking and occupation by footpath shops.
Soon after
the shops were cleared, the civic body took up work to develop the footpath
along Thyagaraya Road into a walker’s zone.
Even as
workers cleared the drains of accumulated waste and debris, a few flower
vendors, who had been allotted shops in the complex, set up makeshift stalls on
the footpath.
On Usman
Road, there are now more than 200 shops, though Corporation officials say only
around 100 shops, which had sought stay on eviction, are being allowed to
function from Bashyam Road.
In Pondy
Bazaar, a couple of hawkers selling soft toys have put up stalls along
Singaravelan Street, behind the new shopping complex. Half a dozen flower
vendors and vegetable sellers hawk their wares from makeshift shops.
When there
was no sign of improvement along Usman Road, the residents’ association filed
an RTI plea on the unauthorised parking and the Corporation’s plan to fence the
space, as instructed by Mr. Ramamurthy.
R. Mohan, who
had sought the details on behalf of the association, said, “None of the
instructions have been abided by. All we received in answer to the RTI plea was
that the information cannot be furnished,” Mr. Mohan said.
The
association then approached Mr. Ramamurthy, who wrote to the commissioner and
the law officer of Chennai Corporation, the additional commissioner and
assistant commissioner of police (traffic), and the counsel for implementation
committee, urging them to implement his instructions with immediate effect.
The judge’s
written reply to the Corporation commissioner is dated December 31 but the
instructions are yet to be implemented.