The Hindu 27.02.2013
Armed with list of encroachments on footpaths, civic body to begin evictions
The Chennai Corporation will start removing
encroachments on pedestrian facilities based on a list submitted by the
Traffic Police.
At a meeting of the sub-committee on
infrastructure improvement and promotion of non-motorised transport
chaired by the Chennai Corporation Commissioner on Tuesday, the traffic
police submitted the list of encroachments that have emerged as
bottlenecks to pedestrian movement.
As a step towards
removal of encroachments, traffic police officials had initiated a
survey of all the encroachments on footpaths along bus routes and
interior roads a few months ago.
The recommendation to remove encroachments on footpaths was made at the first meeting of the sub-committee last year.
The
State government had constituted such sub-committees to help shape the
Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA).
Even
though the civic body had given a deadline of two weeks for completion
of the survey, the delay in convening the next meeting emerged a
stumbling block for any encroachment-removal drive.
The sub-committee has representatives from traffic police, Highways Department and agencies such as Chennai City Connect.
Non-motorised transport
According
to officials, the discussion of the sub-committee on Tuesday also
focussed on steps to be taken towards enhancement of operations of the
non-motorised transport.
“The Chennai Corporation
officials will design infrastructure for non-motorised transport and
prepare estimates for such infrastructure including bicycle tracks. The
timelines have been fixed for many pilot projects,” said a member of the
committee.
Estimates for many such pilot projects are likely to be readied before the next meeting of the sub-committee in March.
The
civic body will study the bus routes where new bus bays are needed to
support the plans of Metropolitan Transport Corporation to augment
fleet.
New bus bays
New bus bays and depots will soon be designed and commissioned in many parts of the city.
The
Chennai Corporation will also identify roads for non-motorised
transport particularly around metro stations and MRTS stations with the
support of Traffic Police, Highways Department and Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authority.
Following a survey, the traffic police identified such structures along bus routes and interior roads