Finally, the Kerala High Court has come to the rescue of hapless commuters who are losing hours in the traffic block. The court on Monday suo motu intervened in the issue and asked Advocate General K P Dandapani and the City Police Commissioner K G James to expedite measures to solve the traffic problems.
The AG and the Commissioner, who were summoned by Justice V Chitambaresh, submitted at his chamber in the afternoon that all possible steps would be initiated to ensure free flow of vehicles. “U-turn has completely been banned there and pedestrian crossing will be restricted through zebra lines, free-left will be made smooth and parking will be fully prohibited in the area,” they submitted.
The City Police Commissioner informed the court that it has decided to control pedestrian traffic through erecting fencing on the median. “Erecting fences on the median on the National Highway is the responsibility of the National Highway Authority (NHAI). The NHAI will be asked to undertake the work along the entire stretch as early as possible,” the Commissioner submitted.
The court asked the officials to inform it whether the decisions are being followed or not.
Justice Chitambaresh, the other day, had got a first-hand experience of the chaos on the streets after being stranded for around an hour due to the traffic block on the stretch from Palarivattom to Edappally Toll Junction.
Traffic snarls along the stretch have worsened during the last one week.
‘Express’ had reported about this hours-long traffic block. “The traffic block along the Palarivattom-Edappally became uncontrollable after a new shopping mall was inaugurated near Edappally Junction. Though the mall has a parking area which can accommodate over 6,000 cars, the space is often over-crowded, especially on Saturdays and Sundays,” said
P P Shamsu, assistant commissioner of police (Traffic East). An alternative route has to be identified to ease the flow.