From 3 pm to 4 pm every day, the EVK Sampath Road comes to a standstill as auto rickshaws and cars are parked on both sides of the road to pick up students coming out of school. MTC buses and private vehicles, including cars and bikes, are made to pass the stretch in snail pace. Rahul, a resident of the locality who uses the road on a daily basis, said, “Police personnel are on guard round the clock at the entrance of the city police commissionerate. But they just turn a blind eye on the traffic jam caused by private vehicles parked on the road. This has been the case for several months now, and both school authorities and the police do not seem to have thought about it even though it happens in front of the city police headquarters.”

When contacted, school authorities cited safety reasons for not allowing private vehicles on the campus. “We do not want strangers coming into the school for the safety of children. Also, there is a construction work going on at the adjacent Tangedco building and we do not want visitors to get injured when they walk through the entrance. We have requested the local police to provide strength to regulate traffic during school opening and closing hours. But there has been no action. So, we have been using our own guards to regulate parking. But it will all soon change with our further initiatives,” he said.

A traffic enforcement wing policeman attached to the Vepery police station admitted that they could not send their personnel to all the schools in the locality and added that they would take it up with their higher officials.