CHENNAI: A luxury car rental service in Nanganallur - Avis India - has turned a public road into its parking lot. Residents claim that they are unable to use the Thillai Ganga Nagar 28th Street especially at nights when chauffeurs indiscriminately park cars in the middle of the road and go to sleep in the office.
“We have been facing this problem ever since the company began operations here. Our complaints to the police and corporation has fallen on deaf ears,” said Murali Krishnan, a local resident.
The company allegedly even threatened residents when they raised their voices against the encroachment of the road. “The manager threatened to kill my neighbour and me in accidents if we continue to complain about their violations,” said Murali Krishnan, claiming the rental company has links to top politicians in the area.
Access to the Jawaharlal Nehru Salai from the Thillai Ganga Nagar 28th road, was blocked to enable construction of a culvert a few months ago and residents allege that the car company has used its clout to ensure the road remains shut. “The culvert work in this stretch ended and officials are not removing the barricades and are allowing the cars to park on the road,” said S Madhavan, another resident.
Avis India which runs the lot in partnership with Mercury Travels, denied parking on the road. “Other cabs park on the road and our company is blamed,” said Mathi, the owner of the land on which the company is operating. The Corporation Zonal Officer for Alandur, Ramamoorthy claimed to be unaware of the road blockage. “I will instruct officials to visit the spot and remove the block,” he said.
Safety concerns
The cars are parked next to an old transformer and junction box. “Both, the transformer and junction box, burst from time to time and could set the cars on fire in a heavily populated locality,” said Murali Krishnan. On examining the parking lot, Express did not find any fire extinguishers, sand or water buckets kept around the facility to tend to fires, raising questions as to whether the company has a fire license. However, a representative of the company refused to comment as to whether they did have a fire license.