CHENNAI: The city police have modified
traffic arrangements for
VVIP movement on
Kamarajar Salai along the Marina, carving out a lane right at the centre for
VVIP vehicles. This will ensure unhindered movement for the chief minister and others from the Light House to Secretariat. Routine traffic will carry on on either side of this lane.
“This new system has been in place for quite some time now,” an officer said, adding that the modification was made for uninterrupted flow of vehicular movement for the public.
“Initially, we blocked one side of the road to allow VVIP movement, while vehicles were allowed to ply on the other side of the road in the opposite direction,” said another officer. It was
CM Edappadi K Palaniswami who suggested that police refrain from blocking the road and inconveniencing the public.
Police then created a new middle lane by placing barricades on either side. Personnel were deployed at every 100m on both sides to avoid merging of public vehicles into the VVIP lane.
After the new system was tested, many members of the public expressed their support for the idea. People travelling from Gandhi Statue towards Napier Bridge can take a left to proceed further, while vehicles travelling on the opposite direction can also take a left and proceed towards the Marina Beach service road.
“We cannot implement the same in other arterial roads as the road is separated by the divider. However, we can have an exclusive lane by blocking the right extreme lane closer to the median for the VVIP movement,” a traffic police officer said.