NH-A road to chaos

By Francis P Barclay

Coimbatore, Dec 1: Chaos and danger rule the Nawab Hakkim (NH) Road stretching between the Five Corner and the Coimbatore Corporation building. The road is too narrow to serve the bounteous vehicles that ply on it and poses threat to the safety of pedestrians and shopkeepers there.
Heavy vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers, besides buses use this road. It was constructed many years ago when vehicular movement was less and steps were not taken to widen it. Now people face tough time to squeeze through the crowd even though it is one-way.
The temple standing on the road constricts it further. Besides, vehicles are also parked on the roadside. Pedestrians do not have proper platforms to walk and the buildings are too crowded. Potholes add to the woes.
A resident of the area, M S Sivakumar, says: ``Heavy vehicles find it extremely difficult to ply on this route. For drivers, tension mounts while passing through this route.''
``A few months ago, Route no: 5 lost its control and entered into a bag-making shop. A boy, who was there, died on the spot,'' he recalls.
Before that, a CTC bus Route no: 3 hit an electric lamp post and the wires got snapped. Fortunately, the live wires from the post never fell on the bus.
Last year too, a tempo traveller was hit by a route bus.
``Road mishaps are frequent and verbal clashes quite common here,'' says Sivakumar.
Bus route nos 3, 3D, 4, 4M and 4K ply on this route. Traffic congestion is frequent.
But there seems to be a solution, according to T M Sethu Anwar Hussain, president of the Coimbatore District Consumers Protective Council. He suggests that heavy vehicles like buses, trucks and tanker lorries can be
diverted from Five Corner towards east and Raja Street and made to take a turn near the Clock Tower and reach the Corporation building.
``There are also bus stops in between and hence, there will not be any inconvenience for the transport authorities and drivers. Passengers can be picked up from the bus stop in front of the Corporation building,'' Sethu
says.
Encroachments in the Raja Street need to be removed, he adds.
The Council has sent letters to Local Administration Minister M K Stalin, the Cheran Transport Corporation, the Deputy Transport Commissioner and the Inspector General of Police (West Zone) in this regard, and is hoping for necessary action to ease traffic on the route.