Marriage merriment, motorists’ mayhem

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, December 6

Several marriage palaces and banquet halls are located on main roads across the city, which often clog traffic. The traffic police have announced that they will lodge FIRs against errant marriage palace owners and challan motorists who park their vehicles on main roads.

“Traffic jams and chaos are a routine affair these days, especially during night, due to several marriage palaces located on a stretch of just over 4 km on the Surajkund road,” said Devender Singh Surjewala, a local resident.

He said he got stuck in a traffic jam recently and it took him more than an hour and a half to cover 10 km. He added that there were no arrangements in place to control or regulate traffic on this stretch.

Anoop Chaudhary, another local resident, said marriage palace owners encroached upon main roads by allowing guests to park their vehicles on greenbelts along the roads as they did not have adequate parking space in the marriage palaces.

He added that frequent traffic jams were reported between the Surajkund road and the National Highway-2 in the Ballabgarh area.

He added that police personnel patrolling the area often expressed helplessness when approached for help to remove vehicles parked wrongly.

Jitender Bhadana, an activist of NGO Save Aravallis, claimed that almost all marriage palaces on the Surajkund road had been operating illegally. He added that no commercial activity could be carried out in the protected forestland area.

Bhadana accused the land mafia of trying to grab more forestland in the Aravallis. He said trees were axed on several acres near Bandhwari and Kot villages recently.

Commissioner of Police Hanif Qureshi said strict action had been initiated against guilty marriage palace owners. This included registration of FIRs for blocking traffic, he pointed out.

The traffic police had been directed to take strict action, he said. The police had been challaning motorists who parked their vehicles on roads and conducting regular patrolling in sensitive areas during night hours, he added.