Road linking Flower Bazaar, Chennai Central railway station taken over by parked vehicles, huts

CHENNAI: Evening Bazaar Road, which links Flower bazaar with Chennai Central railway station, is almost completly taken over by haphazardly parked vehicles and pavement-dwellers, leaving little space for roadusers.
This is one of the busiest roads in the area, with buses leaving Broadway terminus entering Poonamallee High Road (EVR Salai) near Chennai Central, but one half has been grabbed by more than a dozen mini-tempo vans parked there. The other is filled with sheds put up by those who live on the adjoining pavements.
Several residents and activists have railed against Greater Chennai Corporation and the traffic police for not acting on the encroachments. R Ramesh, a civic activist from North Chennai's Royapuram, said the stretch is always congested, with the encroachments adding to the chaos. "The vendors on Evening Bazaar Road belong to the same group that squats on NSC Bose Road. The few evicted from that road have now shifted to this place," he said. They cook, wash clothes and live on the platform, said Ramesh, adding that it was a health and hygienic hazard as well.
R Boopalan of Tondiarpet, another civic activist who regularly commutes on the stretch, said police sometimes put 'towing zone' boards but in reality don't act. "What's the use of laying wider pavements if they are going to be encroached? The corporation can build a parking system like in T Nagar from the space available near the police station. Some 50 vehicles can be parked there now, and a multi-level system can add more vehicles," he said.
The stretch is lined with several electronic shops and other commercial establishments and hence is crowded. A resident from Mannadi said the corporation and police should act on the encroachments immediately as they were hindering traffic flow.
Royapuram zone officials said they would hold a vehicle-removal drive on the stretch in coordination with the traffic police. "We had given time for residents to remove abandoned vehicles. Encroachment removal drives will focus on this stretch now," said one.