Corporation authorities removing encroachments on walkways on Bypass Road in Madurai on Monday.
Giving a strong message not to encroach upon walkways in the city with different types of billboards and banners, which obstructed pedestrians, Corporation Commissioner Guarav Kumar has warned of stern action as per the law here on Monday.Supervising the eviction drive in a couple of locations in the city’s main thoroughfares such as by-pass road, he said that walkways are intended only for pedestrians. No way, it can be encroached upon with banners by shops to display their products/ services/ discounts/ offers et al.. By doing so, the people would be forced to use the roads, which would ultimately lead to reduced carriage space for vehicles.The Commissioner said that the law gave the authority to the civic body to evict after issuing notice and those which were put up on public space on temporary manner would be physically removed by the authorities, he added.Following complaints that a lot of temporary shops were set up on weekends, especially, eateries on the commercial areas, the civic body took stock of the encroachers.“Wherever, such illegal occupation was identified, they were given time to vacate on their own. If there was no sign of cooperation, we cleared them as empowered by the law,” an officer in the Town and Country Planning said.The Commissioner said that they have planned to carry out similar drive around the Meenakshi Temple, Veli Streets, Masi Streets and among others. The primary objective is to clear encroachments and also give the space to the pedestrians. This would give more space for vehicles to ply on the roads where accidents can be prevented. Published - July 13, 2026 08:21 pm IST
