Chennai: Traffic along the arterial GST road starting from Alandur metro station to Chennai airport continues to be a nightmare as the recent order by the Chennai traffic police warning the omni bus operators to refrain from illegal parking goes unchecked.
Despite the orders to omni bus operators continue to use the Alandur metro station and St Thomas Mount head post office as pick up points adding to the peak hour traffic. The irony is that four police personnel are positioned to monitor the traffic but to no respite.
In a meeting convened with the Omni Bus Owners Association in Chennai by senior traffic police officers on July 13, it was decided that the buses would stop on Inner Ring Road, opposite Officers Training Academy to pick up their passengers and take a right turn towards MKN Road to enter GST Road.
“It is a nightmare to travel towards airport on Fridays. Though there are police near the post office, the drivers grease their hands and halt in the middle of the busiest roads. The drivers would have followed the rules for not more than a couple of days,” rued Shrikishan Jain, a commuter.
MTC bus drivers also rue that they seldom get a place to stop as omni buses occupy the roads. “The buses are parked abruptly not leaving enough space for everyday commuters to board MTC buses. This can also lead to accidents and the complaints to the police reaped no benefit,” they said.
Motorists also complained that the plight is alike near Chromepet railway station where the buses block the roads illegally.
Omni buses are supposed to halt in Koyambedu and Perungalathur. In a bid to accommodate more number of people, they stop at numerous places randomly.
An omni bus driver on condition of anonymity, said the reason for defying the rule was that the commuters would not know new bus stops that the police informed them and this way they would lose a lot of passengers.
When contacted, an official from the Chennai traffic police said four policemen are stationed at the post office and he would pass orders to follow the rule stringently.
