Over 1,200 wrong parking challans, city undeterred

Gagandeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 7

Even as the traffic police have issued 1,245 challans for wrong parking this year, they have failed to discourage the city residents from violating the traffic rules. Haphazard parking has been a nuisance for commuters for long. The traffic police lack infrastructure to nail the offenders. The traffic police have only one tow-away vehicle and that too has been hired on a contract basis since the department faces shortage of funds.

The menace of wrong parking is rampant in the city, but the police, with only one tow-away vehicle, are not capable of towing away a large numbers of vehicles. This year, the Bathinda police have issued over 1,245 challans for wrong parking. Mostly four-wheelers are seen violating the norms. The problem is more prevalent on Mall road, Ajit road, Hospital Bazar, Amrik Singh road and Bibiwala road. The movement of the crane is restricted to the Mall road and Mittal Mall.

A traffic police official, requesting anonymity, said the department faces a lot of problems in the absence of adequate tow-away vehicles. He said at least six cranes were required in the city. At times, they use police vehicles to tow away the wrongly parked cars and the process most of the times inflicts damages on the vehicles. Besides, the increasing number of vehicles on the city roads has also added to the problem. Even 100 feet road, which didn’t have much traffic flow until a few years ago, now witnesses traffic jams. Annu Kumar, a city resident, said the traffic cops certainly need more cranes in view of the increasing traffic.

DSP (Traffic) Gurpreet Singh Gill said they had hired a tow-away vehicle on a contract basis. He didn’t comment on the need for more cranes in the city.