Coimbatore, Nov. 1: As Chief Minister Edapadi K. Palanisamy was here today to throw open the Gandhipuram flyover for public use, all the arterial roads of the city were adorned with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) flags and banners.
These, especially could be found in large numbers on Avinashi Road through which the Chief Minister was scheduled to pass through to reach the venue.
Apart from having these flags on either side of the road, thousands of flags were positioned on the median too.
These flags connected to some wooden poles were placed through the gap in the median and they are jutting out on either side of the median.
These projections could hurt any vehicle moving close to the median, especially, the two-wheelers. Prasad, a college student, had a miraculous escape today after hitting one of the projections on this road.
He told SimpliCity that he was forced to move close to the median because of a four-wheeler. Despite hitting one of the projections from the median, he said he was fortunate because he was travelling at a moderate speed. Hence, he did not fall down from the vehicle and could manage to steady it.
He lamented that the very width of the road had been drastically reduced because of these projections. This automatically caused unwarranted congestion on such an arterial road leading to accidents. When the Government, which was supposed to save the people, could be the cause for such a situation, it really hurt, he regretted.
K. Kathirmathiyon, Secretary of Consumer Cause, a consumer organisation here, lamented that the very purpose of constructing concrete structures for the median was to prevent planting of party flags in the mud portion of the median.But still the party men tried to circumvent it by managing to position the flags in an ingenious fashion. "I don't know whether permission has been obtained for doing so," he added.
He asserted that the municipal corporation had the right to question such activities though these roads came under the Highways Department. "But it is regrettable that the corporation authorities turn a blind eye at it for "obvious reasons".