CMRL puts up unauthorised boards

CHENNAI: Residents of Shenoy Nagar were surprised to find boards which read: fine of Rs 80 per hour for cars parked on footpath in Chennai. It also said that the message is by the Greater Chennai Corporation, except the corporation never put up such boards. Inquiries revealed that the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (

CMRL

) had put up these boards.


When TOI brought it to the notice of the civic body, zonal officer K B Vijayakumar clarified that the boards were not put up by the corporation and they will be removed. “Many such boards have been put up around Shenoy Nagar without our authorisation. The CMRL has put them up to stop people from

parking

on pavements around metro rail. But we will be removing them all. We have even asked them to put only caution boards asking people not to park there. They cannot use our name and put up such boards,” said the officer.

A CMRL official said the boards with the name of the city corporation was put up by the contractor, BL Kashyap and Sons Ltd, who is building the underground commuter amenities centre under Thiru Vi Ka Park. “Earlier, they had put up ‘no parking’ boards after complaints from residents that vehicles were being parked on the pavement leaving no space for pedestrians. Since motorists were not obeying it, the contractor mentioned city corporation on the boards, as the park belongs to them,” the official said.

On encroachments on pavements, a senior corporation official said, “Footpaths are strictly for pedestrians and boards don’t stop people from parking on pavements. We have held several meetings with the traffic police officials and have even acted by towing the vehicle and penalising the violators. But people continue to violate the rules. If what CMRL has done becomes a rule, maybe this menace may stop,” said a senior corporation official.

Nashwa Naushad, senior associate - urban development, Institute of Transportation and Development policy said, “Parked vehicles encroaching upon a footpath is one of the major obstructions to pedestrians. Penalising such violations with a hefty fine is the way to prevent such encroachments and the corporation is taking a progressive step towards this through on-street parking management. There is much scope for increasing on-street parking provisions around Shenoy Nagar metro station. Managing and charging parking on the street space around the station, which is currently under-utilised, will help solve the parking issue.”


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