TRICHY: Rampant encroachment of pedestrian platforms across commercial streets in Trichy city have put residents and visitors at risk of being mowed down by speeding vehicles. The encroachments have also dashed hopes of introducing public transport through certain unexplored roads.
A 40-year-old woman, who was walking on the encroached Pattabiraman street in Thennur, sustained grievous head injuries after being knocked down by a speeding bike recently. She was leaving the private nursing home where she was working, when two youths on a high-end bike rammed her. She was admitted to MGMGH with grievous head injuries.
Since pedestrian platforms are exploited by used bike showrooms to display their vehicles, people are forced to walk on the carriageway. The two-foot-wide pedestrian slabs are occupied by around 20 showrooms. Though the road is only 25-foot-wide, visitors park their vehicles well over the carriageway.
“The youngsters who hit the woman claimed that a car parked on the road had obstructed their view. Trichy corporation must help us clear the encroachments on footpaths,” a police officer investigating the accident said. Many accidents go unreported because the victims sustain less grievous injuries.
There were plans to operate public transport (one-way) on streets including Pattabiraman street and Heber road, but with encroachments shrinking the carriageway, TNSTC has not warmed up to the idea. Similarly, Thillai Nagar, West Boulevard road and Big Bazaar street lack adequate space for pedestrians to walk over to the residential and commercial properties there.
Shops which place billboards on footpaths force pedestrians to walk on the carriageway, thus putting them at risk of being mowed down by buses approaching from behind. “We have convened a meeting with the used bikes’ dealer association to free the pedestrian platforms. The urban local body will take action to ensure safe passage for pedestrians in the city,” the office of corporation mayor Mu Anbalagan said.
