CHENNAI: Roads of Guindy Industrial Estate, the country’s first model industrial estate, have been facing severe congestion owing to people parking a huge number of lorries and vans on them. The Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association has written to Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena seeking his intervention in this regard.
According to VK Girish Pandian, president of the Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association, more than 500 vehicles that transport cargo to the airport and other parts of Chennai, are parked on the estate roads, causing severe distress to owners of industrial units and also the public who use the estate’s roads.
“Even though a separate area spanning an acre has been allocated for parking, the drivers leave lorries and vans on estate roads. We have taken up the issue with the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (TANSIDCO) and three rounds of meetings were held with the lorry associations last year, but TANSIDCO has taken no action so far,” rued Pandian.
The vehicles parked in front of the TANSIDCO corporate office were removed immediately, but no action has been taken against the vehicles left behind on the roads, he added. This menace has resulted in road conditions deteriorating. An industrialist told TNIE that he was embarrassed to bring a client to his office due to the deep potholes on the roads.
“Due to the lorries parked on both sides of the roads, it takes us more than an hour to navigate even 150 metres through the estate. Workers are not even able to sweep or clean the roads,” the industrialist added. Meanwhile, the spokesperson of SKCL, a property development firm that has its office in the estate, said after repeated appeals, drivers would take away their vehicles, only to put them back on the roads in three or four days.
In the industrial estates at Ambattur, Thirumazhisai and Thirumudivakkam, there is a strict restriction against parking lorries or vans on the roads. When contacted, a TANSIDCO official told TNIE that the parking issue will be resolved when new roads are laid next month. “Parking will be allowed only in the allotted area, and those vehicles that are left behind on the roads, will be removed,” the official said.