Encroachments razed at new bus bay on Chennai-Bengaluru Highway in Vellore

Encroachments razed at new bus bay on Chennai-Bengaluru Highway in Vellore

Encroachments, mostly roadside shops, were razed at the newly opened bus bay on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway (NH 44) at Vallalar Nagar in Vellore on Wednesday to prevent traffic congestion on the route.

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which maintains the new bus bays on the service lanes of the highway, said that the open space near the bus bay has been encroached by vegetable vendors, small shops and pushcarts for the past few months. This has obstructed the free movement of vehicles including town buses, which are operated by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) on the service lane towards Chennai.

“Despite repeated warnings to encroachers, they continued to occupy public space near the new bus bay that affected traffic movement. We removed the encroachments and restored the open space for the public,” said a NHAI official.

Along with Vellore Corporation and local police, NHAI removed encroachments on the open space on the service lane. More than 30 shops were demolished in the exercise. The new bus bays in Vallalar Nagar on the service lane was built a few months ago after demolishing a defunct Government Primary School to provide a safe bus stop for local commuters to board buses every day. Earlier, commuters used to wait on the carriageway of the highway to board town buses. Some commuters used to cross the highway to board the buses. This has resulted in accidents including fatal ones.