Soluation Became Problem
A ramp created by a resident to create access for vehicles across a high footpath. A couple of ago, the Coimbatore Corporation met a long-felt need on T.V. Swamy Road (West) at R.S. Puram: it re-laid the pavement more than a foot above the road level in order to prevent vehicles from encroaching space for pedestrians. But, the solution was provided in such a way that it created a problem for some residents: access to vehicles into their houses was blocked. Earlier, the pavements were only a few inches above the road level and this enabled owners of shops or their employees to park their cars and two-wheelers on it. The Corporation then hit upon the idea of re-laying the pavement at more than a foot above the road level.
With most of the buildings on the road being commercial establishments, the pavement was laid with the conviction that there was no need for access for vehicles into most of these structures. But, the problem that this could create to residential buildings seemed to have been ignored. Normally, when pavements are laid, a gap is provided in front of gates through which vehicles have to pass. But, this has not been done on T.V. Swamy Road (West). When this problem was pointed out on Thursday, an official source in the civic body contended that there were only commercial establishments on this stretch.
The road mostly consists of shops selling readymade garments and footwear. It also has two temples, a departmental store and a sweet stall. But, there are at least three to four houses in the row opposite the temples. A person working as a driver in one of the houses was busy mixing cement with small blue metal on Wednesday. He heaped the mix at the pavement in an attempt at creating a ramp so that the cars belonging to this house could move in and out of the compound. The driver lamented that for almost two months, an expensive car had to be parked on the road, while another one remained inside the compound because of the pavement becoming a hurdle. Asked why the residents had not complained to the Corporation, he said they had told the civic body a number of times. But, with no sign of a solution coming from it, they had now decided to help themselves by creating the ramps.
