NSB road a nightmare for shoppers, motorists

A drive-cum-shopping along NSB Road in the city is tough for motorists as there are no proper parking lots available at near by locations. Motorists suggested temporary parking lots would alleviate the problem to some extent, but no authorities have come forward. NSB Road, Singarathope and Big Bazaar Street are considered a one-stop shopping zone. People from nearby villages and other dis-irictslike Perambalur, Ariyalur and Pudukkottai halt at NSB Roadafter visiting Tiruchy's de-votional landmarks. J Manoj, a pedestrian, said, "A small parking area near Main Guard Gate would never solve the problem when there are so many vehicles in the city," He suggested a temporary parking set up would make things easier. With around 5,000 shops in the vicinity, there are about two or three parking lots, all of which are filled to the brim. Two prominent textile showrooms have their own underground parking facilities while the rest do not allow vehicles to park outside their premises.

This means many vehicles are parked on either side of NSB Road and Singarathope. There were different opinions from the pubic on the issue but the common refrain was for temporary parking lots. Homemaker B Sujatha said she would always prefer shopping on NSB Road considering the affordable prices and availability of products. "We used to visit thrice a month but the main problem is with parting. I have to park my car miles away from the shopping zone. Walking along the footpath has become dangerous because of the way vehicles are parked" NSB Road leads to College Road to the west, Singarathope to the south, Theradi Kadai Street to the east and Theppakulam to the north. With just a few days left for Diwali celebrations, motorists said that a huge turnout of two latch shoppers could be expect-ed to throng textile showrooms, eateries, jewellery shops show-rooms and Rockfort Temple, making proper parking the need of the hour.
Source: epaper . new indianexpress . comfic/226