Stop fleecing by autos, say residents

Not yet, it appears as DC caught up with a cross-section of residents of RS Puram where the ambitious car-free plan is all set to be rolled out this week. The reactions of residents ranged from fuming rage to utter apathy.

Sample this frustrated response from an RS Puram old-timer, P. Narasimhan: “Where do they expect us to walk? All pavements have been encroached. There are not enough buses on Sundays and the autorickshaw drivers fleece us? And do you expect us to sacrifice the only luxury that we have? First, let the Corporation provide pavements and cycle paths and the police ensure that the autos don’t fleece. Then, let’s think of car-free Sundays.”

There are no exclusive cycle lanes in the city. Neither is there a patch of pavement for people to walk on. And Coimbatore has no Metro rail chugging through its streets. So, how is a car-free Sunday possible, ask women.

“Sunday is the only day I gets to take my children out and restricting movement on that day could be inconvenient,” says Sumita Arun, a working mother from RS Puram.

“The district administration and the police are not doing much about the fleecing auto drivers who continue to drain the blood out of the commuters despite the meter rule in place and, as for buses, all the areas are not well connected. It would be difficult for me to walk my three-year-old and my seven-year-old kids all the way from Thadagam Road to Brookefields mall. The only option I have is to take the fleecing auto rickshaws,” she said.

Homemaker Jayanthi Venkatesh is also quite sceptical. This Sunday, the car free zone has been scheduled on DB road and TV Samy road is in the shape of the letter T. But there are several lanes in between and those entering and exiting into those lanes will have no choice but to touch these arterial roads.

“This initiative may not help in reducing fuel or pollution as the vehicle users will only tend to avoid these roads, take a detour but still continue to use the cars,” she said.

Secretary of Consumers Voice Club CMJ Raman said that the initiative is laudable but it can be hundred per cent successful only when the frequency of public transportation is increased. On Sundays, the transport department can mull bringing down the frequency of buses plying in office routes and increase those plying in the areas specified as closed to cars on Sundays.

Pedestrian and cycle pathways should be provided and cycle stands can be provided at the corporation parks and also in other public places to encourage cycling. Using cycle for work is being extensively done in Australia and a Kovai based professor who is now working in a University in Australia travels about 10 km to and fro every day in his cycle, he said.