Encroachments on the Velachery Main Road removed

Chennai:Encroachments on the Velachery Main Road removed by the State Highways Department.The State Highways Department has started removing encroachments from near the Vijay Nagar Bus Terminus junction to the Velachery-Tambaram Bridge on the Velachery Main Road.

The removal of encroachments on one of the busy stretches in Velachery is a long pending demand of the residents of the area. The drive began two days ago and as part of it compound walls and encroachments along the road that is to be widened were undertaken.The Velachery Main Road is a crucial link to fast growing localities in the southern suburbs such as Pallikaranai and Madipakkam. Its proximity to the IT corridor and the presence of a number of leading business process outsourcing (BPO) firms in the neighbourhood has resulted in heavy traffic on the stretch.

Several hundreds, possibly thousands, of people every day, use a bus terminus in the vicinity.Many of the buses are often stopped outside the terminus on the road leading to Taramani. In the absence of a terminus on the other side, it is not uncommon to find share autorickshaws and omni vans fighting for space.On the encroachment removal, an official of the State Highways Department said it was a step to reclaim the government lands.

The department, however, is yet to firm up its proposal of using the retrieved land, he added. It is contemplating to widen the road as part of extending the southern arm of the Inner Ring Road that is proposed to come up between Velachery and Grand Southern Trunk Road.According to residents of the area, widening of the roads in the area is one of the measures needed immediately for smooth flow of traffic and safety of pedestrians. The Velachery Main Road-Velachery Bypass Road junction receives vehicles bound for different destinations and is often characterised by traffic jams, mainly caused by impatient drivers.

Besides the encroachments, which have drastically reduced the carriageway on the main road, haphazard parking of vehicles also added to the traffic mess.The residents' welfare associations in the areas also want the Traffic Police to install an automatic traffic signal at the junction of Velachery Main Road and the By-pass Road to regulate the traffic.