The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 19, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reporter's Diary

Visible policing?

The Chennai police have applied for ISO certification for some of its police stations. But for the common man, things appear not to have changed — at least on the traffic front despite all the brave talk of "visible policing".

Take for instance, the indiscriminate parking of vehicles in and near bus-stops, resulting in huge traffic jams. It's not just at the Egmore and Central railway station bus stops or the entrance to the Stanley viaduct which are used by autorickshaw drivers for parking and picking up passengers as even the casual visitor to the city can see; blatant one-way violations are not taken note of by policemen all round the city. For instance, though Kennet Lane, opposite the Police Commissioner's office is one-way, it is violations galore for most part of the day. It's no different on any of the city's important roads, whether it be Dams Road, Patullos Road or the Alagappa Chettiar Road. Nobody is going to grudge the police getting their ISO certification; but it's of little consolation to the common man.

Demands galore

You would think that living in the city would ensure residents of at least the basic amenities, but most residents in West Mambalam and Rangarajapuram would not agree. At a meeting of Civic Exnora members of Kodambakkam and T. Nagar on Sunday, the residents had one overriding demand: better living conditions.

Their list of woes was endless: power transformers are old; mosquitoes give them sleepless nights; stray dogs yelp at their feet during the day; and they have to transport water to their homes in pots.

Despite police patrol, a few incidents of thefts have been reported. A long pending demand is a flyover to connect Rangarajapuram across the railway line.

An irate resident told the local MLA: "I have been hearing of this project since my schooldays. I hope it will be completed in my lifetime."

Of convoy and business

Traders on Old Mahabalipuram and New Mahabalipuram Roads have this one plea to the Chief Minister's office.

The VVIP convoy uses one of these roads everyday and hence there is always a strong police presence during the peak hour along both these stretches.

The men on bandobust duty do not allow any kind of parking of vehicles in front of the shops.

The office-bearers of Tiruvanmiyur Traders Association say there are 1800 shops on both these roads and the police restrictions affect prime time business.

Traders say there need be no let-down on the Chief Minister's security, but hope that a mechanism can be worked out to limit the restrictions now on for several hours.

The regulations can come in half-an-hour before the VVIP convoy passes a particular point.

(Contributions: K.T. Sangameswaran, R. Sujatha and T.S. Shankar)

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