CHENNAI: For three hours on Sunday, pedestrians of T Nagar got a taste of reclaiming some of their space on the otherwise frenzied streets of T Nagar as the city Corporation organised a test run of the proposed pedestrian plaza, a project under the Smart City Mission.
For three hours from 9 am to 12.30 pm, the civic body arranged for all automobiles, except buses and two-wheelers, to be kept off the 700-metre-stretch in Pondy Bazaar. The vehicles from Bashyam Road to Anna Salai had to take diversion on GN Chetty Road, while those plying the other way round had to take diversion at Thanikachalam Road.
According to a Corporation official, the initiative was intended to analyse the possibility of pedestrians walking without fear of accidents in the space provided today and to check if the roads to which the traffic was diverted were able to accommodate the volume of motorists without turning into traffic choke points.
“We will analyse all information that we gathered today and take a decision as to how, when or if the project could be implemented,” he said, adding that they would ultimately look to create a Times Square-like setup and even create a waiting space outside the shops if the project is finalised. “Think of it as a mall without the roof,” he said. Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan inspected the arrangements with several corporation officials in tow.
Alternative parking arrangements for cars from Bashyam Road to Thyagaraya Road were made at the car park before Panagal Park and cars from Anna Salai to Thyagaraya Road were allowed to be parked on either side of the road up to the Anna Salai and Thanigachalam Road junction.
The stretch, dotted with school students in uniform, drummers and dance troupes, were cheered on by the crowd who had gathered to be a part of the initiative.
“This sketch is on how Chennai would look if the streets are made clean and friendly like the streets in other countries like Singapore,” said Stephan Raj, a class 7 student of CMS Trustpuram School who was drawing on the theme of ‘Smart city’, along with his team.
The corporation also organised a health camp where residents could get themselves tested for non-communicable diseases and lined up traditional foods like multi-grained chickpeas and ragi adai on the next table to create awareness of the benefits of going back to traditional food.
“Apart from getting to taste, we also share recipes on how to make these,” said a corporation official of the Health and Family Welfare Department. An ambulance and a battery-operated car to ferry the old and people with disabilities was also on call. There was no dearth of song and dance as children who had come to watch joined the crowd.
“There is no disruption of public affairs and our children are having fun. I would welcome the initiative,” said Banu. P who was watching children from ‘Drumalaya’ perform. Some, however, had no clue as to what the programme was about, like 41-year-old Sujatha K who thought that it was a cleanliness drive. However, not everything went as planned in the day’s trial drive. A few traders on the road expressed their disapproval over the project since they were allegedly not consulted before the trial was finalised and were not included in their pre-trial meetings.
The sanitary workers had their work cut out for them. A sanitary worker, who was on duty during the drive, said that officials should ask the visitors to refrain from littering during such events.