COIMBATORE: Being the second-largest city in the State, Coimbatore is home to a number of shopping destinations, including the Cross Cut Road.
It is that time of the year when Cross Cut Road would be bustling as a sea of shoppers converge ahead of Deepavali. Even otherwise, the 1.45 km stretch, which houses prominent textile showrooms, branded cloth stores and eateries, draws huge crowds.
The question that looms is whether this commercial hub enhances the experience of shoppers or tests their physical agility with numerous obstacle courses.
Pedestrians have to hop, skip and jump around the vehicles that are parked haphazardly at no-parking zones and on pavements. “All eyes on both sides of the road” seem to be the name of the game for pedestrians as they walk amid the never-ending rally of vehicles.
“The pavement is an exclusive track for pedestrians and not for parking vehicles,” complained B Lakshmanan, a private company employee who accompanied his family for festive shopping. Vehicles zooming past at high speed put pedestrians who are forced to walk on the carriageway at risk, he added.
Like Lakshmanan, numerous pedestrians were seen walking on the road despite a footpath on either side of the one-way Cross Cut Road.
Another pedestrian R Selvan pointed out the presence of street vendors and said they hindered movement. “When people stop to buy goods from the hawkers, the ones behind have to pause until they finish their business. The hawkers have to be relocated for streamlining the stretch,” he said.
A street vendor who did not wish to be named said he makes ends meet by selling clothes to people who hit the streets for shopping. The vendor lamented that his livelihood would be at stake if he were to be relocated.
Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause (CCC) K Kathirmathiyon said pedestrians are given the least importance by the officials and pointed out the improper walking tracks.
He added, “Based on the Indian Road Congress (IRC) norms, the footpaths should be constructed at a width of at least 3 to 3.5 feet. Similarly, the footpaths should not be higher than one foot from the carriageway as the pedestrians will face difficulty climbing down and up if there is a hindrance.”
Kathirmathiyon also pointed out that many shops lack or fail to offer parking facilities to customers, resulting in vehicles being parked on the roadside.
He claimed that the corporation officials were failing to enforce actions against the erring shops.
When contacted, a corporation official said the police have erected watchtowers on Cross Cut Road to monitor and regulate the Deepavali crowd.
The civic body is also taking steps to remove encroachments from the pavement and make it pedestrian-friendly, he added.
As a pedestrian, do you face similar civic woes and feel strongly about them? Write to us at response_tn@newindianexpress.com.