VISAKHAPATNAM: The one-way rule, which was implemented on the beach road on Saturday to reduce traffic snarls on the busy stretch, literally went haywire on the first day itself, with the general public merrily flouting the rule.The whole idea to reduce traffic snarls on the stretch backfired completely when people merrily went on the wrong way from one end of the road to the other by simply informing the policemen that they were on their way to park their vehicles.The parking area along the beach road from Pandurangapuram to Park hotel junction is a one-and-half kilometre stretch and the hapless policemen could do little other than watching helplessly as the cars and bikes just made their way through.One policeman, who did not wish to be named, shrugged helplessly when asked if the one-way move will serve its purpose. “What can we do? We cannot stop them, considering the length of the stretch and the difficulty involved in manning them all,” he said.The one-way rule was apparently introduced after a survey was conducted by the city traffic police. Traffic ADCP M Ramesh Kumar had announced a few days back that a sample survey was conducted involving residents of the apartments on the beach road and as per the results, out of the 332 residents who responded, 220 welcomed the proposal, 56 opposed it, while another 23 neither opposed nor supported the move. The police also claimed that they had conducted an online survey where 28 people favoured the proposal and 17 opposed it.Locals, however, allege that the whole poll and survey exercise conducted was a sham. The city police’s sample survey claims were even trolled on social media, with some of them asking, “How could they implement the rule so quickly, when the survey was conducted barely a few days ago?” Others trolled the city police for the ‘big size’ of their survey sample.However, the police made it clear that the survey results were clear and added that the opposition to the implementation of the rule came out in the open after the survey was completed, not when it was being done. They also blamed the general public for the small size of the sample survey, saying that had the critics of the rule too had participated, the sample size could have been much bigger.Visakha Apartments Residents Welfare Association has came out strongly against the move, stating in their release that the whole exercise to block one side of the four-lane beach road was only to accommodate people coming to the Lulu mall, which is yet to be constructed.The opposition to the move is not just restricted to residents and Netizens alone. Members of the beach road traders association too have come out strongly against the one-way rule.Y Srinivas, one of the 250-plus small traders who sell their snacks and fare along the busy beach road stretch, said the move will affect their business badly. “The GVMC has given us permission to trade and sell on this stretch, we even wear the identification badge given by the GVMC with pride. However, if this rule is implemented permanently, we will lose our only source of income as the police will now drive us out from the stretch,” he said.

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