Ghat roads in Ooty made one-way to meet summer rush

Udhagamandalam: With the summer festivities due to begin in the Nilgiris, police have declared the ghat roads leading to the plains one way as part of traffic regulations.
However the one-way traffic regulation will be followed only during weekends as more tourist crowd is expected.
The festivities will kick start with the inaugural of the 'Vegetable Show' at Kotagiri on May 4, and will go on till the end of this month. T Senthil Kumar, Nilgiris SP announced that the two ghat roads connecting the plains will be one-way during the weekends, to deal with heavy traffic.
Vehicles heading towards Ooty from the plains will have to take the Mettupalayam-Coonoor-Ooty road while those going to the plains will be diverted through the Ooty-Kotagiri-Mettupalayam road.
"The traffic regulation order will be in place till the end of this month. Also, trucks on the ghat road will not be allowed between 6am and 9pm during weekends," said Senthil Kumar.
The SP has appealed to private water tank operators not to operate their lorries during the day, to ease traffic. "If the appeal is not followed, then we have to come out with an order to regulate water tanker movement in town," he warned. However, Ooty municipal water tankers have been exempted from the restriction.
Nineteen places in Ooty town have been identified for parking light vehicles. Direction boards to the parking lots have also been erected in town.
Three companies of battalion of Tamil Nadu police have been deployed in the Nilgiris as part of security measures ahead of the summer season.
"More than 1000 police personnel from other districts will also be brought in for the security drill in the district in the coming weeks," the SP added.