Sholinganallur Faces Severe Traffic Jams After OMR ELCOT Road Closure
Sholinganallur in Chennai is witnessing severe traffic congestion after the closure of the OMR entry road leading to the ELCOT IT campus, forcing commuters to take a five-kilometre detour via Medavakkam Road. The sudden change has significantly increased travel time and caused daily gridlocks at the Sholinganallur junction.
Massive Daily Vehicle Movement
The ELCOT IT campus houses over 50 IT companies and handles massive daily traffic across three work shifts:
- More than 25,000 cars
- Over 30,000 two-wheelers
- Around 2,000 heavy vehicles
Earlier, vehicles from Anna Salai, Poonamallee, Koyambedu, Guindy, and Velachery mainly used the OMR entry gate, which helped reduce congestion. With the gate now closed, all vehicles are forced to reroute, leading to bottlenecks.
Metro Rail Work and Security Issues Behind Closure
The internal 600-metre road between the two entry gates was earlier opened for public use due to the Chennai Metro Rail Limited construction. However, ELCOT officials reported several law-and-order issues including:
- Alcohol consumption inside parked autos
- Chain-snatching incidents
- Illegal racing by vehicles
Following complaints to the Tambaram Police Commissioner, the OMR gate was closed to public vehicles.
Police and ELCOT Stand
Police from Kannagi Nagar and Semmancheri stations are on continuous patrol to manage vehicle flow and prevent incidents. Police officials stated that reopening the OMR entry temporarily until Metro Rail work is completed would greatly ease congestion, if ELCOT permits.
ELCOT, meanwhile, has decided to:
- Allow only IT employee vehicles from Monday to Friday
- Restrict autos and non-essential vehicles
- Reopen fully only if round-the-clock police security is assured
Commuters Demand Immediate Relief
Daily commuters and IT employees are demanding the immediate reopening of the OMR access road for all vehicles, stating that the current diversion is causing long delays, missed office hours, and fuel wastage.
