Sir,

The traffic on 2nd Main Road in Vontikoppal, in front of Nirmala Convent School, is heavy during School opening and closing hours. The road condition is appalling and  problems galore:

1. Two-wheelers, three- wheelers and four-wheelers are used to drop/pickup kids are haphazardly parked without any consideration for road users & pedestrians. It is a common sight to see vehicles occupying half the road, causing traffic jam.

2. The road itself is in disastrous shape for many years. It has become even worse after the recent repair of the sewage lines and the road left with potholes & soft berm on either side.

3. The Main School Gate area has many projecting granite stones and God knows how many have tripped and got injured.

4. There are electric poles and haphazardly strung live wires above & if any snaps (caused by falling tree branches) we may have a major disaster.

5. There are senior citizens living in apartment complexes & houses nearby and it is impossible to take out their vehicle during this period. If there is a medical emergency needing evacuation of a patient, the golden hour will be wasted.

Hope the authorities concerned, the local administration, elected representatives, School Authorities and Traffic Police collectively survey the area and make changes on a war-footing.

The following suggestions may be considered:

1. Construct a 2ft wide, paved pathway (with appropriate slope to drain rain water), adjacent to School compound wall, starting from Gokulam Road end to 8th Cross Road end so that the kids walk through to reach their pick-up destinations, without swarming into the road and causing traffic hindrance.

2. Appropriate traffic-sense and social consciousness have to be driven into the heads of all drivers who come to pick and drop children. They must be asked to park vehicles appropriately. It would be necessary to post Traffic Police initially for a few days and subsequently post traffic volunteers.

3. School Authorities should consider posting additional security staff during peak period to regulate  traffic (both pedestrian and vehicular) near main gate.

4. Asphalt and resurface the road while soft berms on either side be re-hardened. 

5. Traffic authorities can consider making this road a one-way street  during the rush hour.

6. CESC should seriously consider routing Electric Cables underground and bringing them up on light poles at appropriate places. Hope the authorities will wake-up soon to prevent mishaps occurring in future.

– T.S. venkitachalam, Vontikoppal, 10.7.2022

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