Illegal parking eats up road space

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, July 16

Illegal parking outside shops, other commercial establishments and under the Dera Bassi flyover is becoming a nightmare for commuters on city roads. The authorities have failed to curb the menace and take any action against the violators.

While haphazard parking can be seen in the city as well as in key locations in the suburbs, parking of vehicles under space beneath the Dera Bassi flyover points towards gross violation of rules. In the absence of any checks, residents have developed a tendency to park their vehicles on the roadside as well as under the flyover.

Most of the vehicles are parked along the roads, thereby reducing the operational area of the road considerably. This causes traffic congestion, time loss and inconvenience not only to the commuters but also to pedestrians.

What is most surprising is the fact that nobody bothers to check how heavy vehicles are parked along the Dera Bassi-Barwala and Ambala-Chandigarh stretch. The stretch has become a spot for drivers coming from outside the city and park their vehicles illegally along the roadside. It has virtually turned into a truck bay as trucks can be seen parked haphazardly on both sides of the road on any given day.

The fear of being challaned by the traffic police seems to be slowly diminishing among truck drivers, who have started to violate traffic rules with greater frequency.

The manner in which these vehicles are parked has left city residents fuming. It has surprisingly escaped police attention. Apart from this, a large number of people prefer to park their cars on the Tehsil road, which constricts the passage for vehicular flow. As a result, the road remains chock-a-block due to vehicles parked on it.

A shopkeeper on the condition of anonymity said sometimes people park their cars in front of their shops on the Dera Bassi-Barwala stretch, stating that they would be back in a few minutes but they often return after hours.

“Every violator is connected to somebody. Even if we try to issue challan, we cannot do so it easily,” an official of the traffic wing said while talking about various instances in which politically connected persons had misbehaved with traffic policemen when they had tried to challan for illegal parking.

Suresh Pal, Traffic In-charge, Dera Bassi, said: “We have already issued challans to most of the traffic violators in the city and will continue to do so. We are trying our best to redress the problem faced by commuters. We also urge the people to cooperate with us”.