Haphazard parking along narrow roads causing regular snarl-ups in Palampur

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, April 3

Frequent snarl-ups in Palampur and its satellite areas have been causing a great deal of inconvenience to students, commuters and tourists. During peak hours of the day, most of the roads of the town are choked with traffic.

The pedestrians are the worst hit. In the past two months, 12 senior citizens have been hit by speeding two-wheelers and have suffered serious injuries in mishaps occurring on the narrow roads of the town. The width of most of the roads in the town is the same as it was 20 years ago and there has been a manifold increase in the number of vehicles. This leads to frequent traffic jams and threatens the lives of commuters.

DSP: Residents’ cooperation needed

• Palampur DSP Lokinder Negi said the snarl-ups were unavoidable as there had been a manifold jump in the number of vehicles in the town and there was a huge influx of tourists towards Palampur
• He added that six policemen had been posted at different locations, but in the absence of cooperation from residents, the police had also become helpless. Negi appealed to residents to cooperate with the police to improve the situation
• “Traffic challans are no solution to the problem. People must follow traffic rules and avoid idle parking,” he added

Idle parking at Ghuggar, Plaza market, SSB Chowk, Kali Bari Mandir and opposite to Rotary Bhavan has made the situation worse in the absence of any check. The multi-story parking project announced by the government has been hanging fire for the last 10 years because of official bottlenecks. These areas have virtually turned into accident zones.

In the absence of proper parking in the town, tourists and locals have become the soft targets of traffic police. During the weekends, a large number of tourists flock to Palampur and get fined because of haphazard parking. However, idle parking takes place because there is no notified parking area in the town and commuters are forced to park their vehicles on the roadside in the markets.

There are more than 12 banks in the town which have no parking facility. Therefore, bank customers, senior citizens and pensioners also face the wrath of traffic police for parking their vehicles outside the banks when they visit them.

Palampur DSP Lokinder Negi said the snarl-ups were unavoidable as there has been a manifold jump in the number of vehicles in the town and there was a huge influx of tourists towards Palampur.

He added that six policemen had been posted at different locations, but in the absence of cooperation from residents, the police had also become helpless. Negi appealed to residents to cooperate with the police to improve the situation. “Traffic challans are no solution to the problem. People must follow traffic rules and avoid idle parking,” he added.