Chennai’s K.K. Nagar, Ashok Nagar roads are choking, complains a PIL petition before Madras High Court

Public interest litigation filed in Madras High Court over shrinking roads in Chennai, demanding removal of encroachments and illegal parking.

A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court complaining that the width of almost all major roads in K.K. Nagar and Ashok Nagar in Chennai has shrunk considerably over the years due to indiscriminate encroachments and it has consequently become impossible for pedestrians, especially schoolchildren, to walk safely on those roads.

Acting Chief Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq on Thursday ordered notice, returnable by July 23, to Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Commissioner, the GCC superintending engineer in-charge of bus route roads, the Mambalam Deputy Commissioner of Police and the superintending engineer of Tamil Nadu generation and distribution corporation (Tangedco).

V.B.R. Menon, an activist advocate and a resident of K.K. Nagar, had filed the PIL petition seeking a direction to the official respondents to remove/relocate all public toilets, Amma canteens, electrical junction boxes and other obstructions from the public roads, pavements and cycle tracks in both K.K. Nagar and Ashok Nagar. He also insisted on preventing illegal parking of motor vehicles on the roads.

In his affidavit, the petitioner stated that Kalaignar Karunanidhi Nagar and Ashok Nagar were developed in the 1960s with very wide roads, parks and schools. Then, these two localities had only Tamil Nadu Housing Board flats and plots and the population was very less. Subsequently, saplings were planted on both sides of the major roads and still there was enough space for two-way vehicular traffic under the canopies created by the trees.

However, over the years, the housing board tenements had got converted into multi-storey residential buildings leading to a surge in the population. Many commercial establishments had also sprung up on Anna Main Road, Kamarajar Salai and Rajamannar Salai in K.K. Nagar making the area highly congested, the petitioner complained and accused the local politicians of being complicit in allowing such large constructions.

Stating that he had been raising the issue with the corporation officials and other authorities since 2016, he said, a decision was taken in 2017 to enforce one-way traffic in some of the major roads. However, the decision remains only on paper for the last seven years and motor vehicles continue to ply freely on both sides even on roads that were meant only for one-way traffic, he lamented.

The petitioner said, parking of private cabs and auto rickshaws on main roads and allowing street vendors in no vending zones were also causes of concern.