Corpn clears encroachment from EB Road, but parking woes remain

The corporation on Saturday cleared the encroachments on East Boulevard (EB) Road close to the cramped Gandhi Market locality based on a directive issued by district administration. However, as soon as the eviction drive was completed after clearing the temporary shelters put up by traders, haphazard parking of heavy vehicles on either end of EB Road returned in the evening, thus affecting free movement of vehicular traffic on the stretch.
Trichy Corporation sources said that the East Boulevard road beginning from Gandhi Market had been encroached by traders including private transport operators, scrap dealers and also fruit stalls close to the market end. During a recent road safety council meeting, district collector K Rajamani insisted the corporation to act tough on encroachments hampering free flow of vehicles from Gandhi Market towards Odathurai road. Based on this, Ariyamangalam zone officials evicted encroachments in about two-km stretch of EB Road.

"Most of the encroachments were temporary shelters erected by the shops on EB Road and few had kept their inventories on the road. Though few traders voluntarily removed their goods, several shops which continued to encroach the road space were removed with the help of heavy machinery and police personnel," a corporation official said.
Though the EB Road is about 50ft width, owing to encroachments and parking of heavy vehicles, the motorable road space has almost shrunk to 20ft in width. As part of the encroachment drive on Saturday, heavy vehicles were initially told to park in the EB Road parking lot, but by evening, they returned to occupy the road space.
"If the traders were found encroaching the EB Road again, we have planned to penalise the offenders," an official with Ariyamangalam zone added. Though eviction drives were conducted on busy stretches, the sustainability of the drive to ensure proper and free movement of vehicles over the stretches was not followed by the civic body to address the purpose of conducting encroachment clearance.
Meanwhile, locals have sought the civic body to conduct similar eviction drives and penalise the offenders on Madurai Road, Sub-jail Road and Big Bazaar road as traffic congestion have become a routine in the these stretches.

Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/corpn-clears-encroachment-from-eb-road-but-parking-woes-remain/articleshow/61801031.cms