Commuters see red over haphazard parking

Manmeet Singh Gill
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 10

The unauthorised parking of vehicles on many roads in the city, especially the court road, leaves a narrow room for traffic, resulting in congestion frequently. Even the footpaths, which are meant for pedestrians, are occupied by shopkeepers and they are forced to walk on the road.

Vehicles can be seen parked here on the road throughout the day. Sometimes, the haphazard parking exacerbates to such an extent that it covers almost half of the road portion. Due to it, long queues of vehicles moving at a snail’’s pace can be seen.

Commuters say that if the parking of vehicles on the stretch is regulated, the traffic flow will return to normalcy. “There are motor mechanics repairing vehicles on the road. They have a scant regard for the rights of the commuters,” said a commuter, Joginder Pal Sharma.

The unauthorised parking of vehicles is not confined to this stretch as even inside the Hall Bazaar, the road which most people take to reach Golden Temple can be seen blocked with vehicles parked haphazardly.

On this road, a line marking the parking area has been clearly drawn but still people have a tendency to park four-wheelers beyond it. On the other hand, the Deen Dayal Upadhaya parking at the entrance of Hall Gate has failed to attract commuters due to the ‘highhandedness’ of the attendants in the past who charged more than the prescribed fee.

“The problem can be solved if the parking is opened for public at nominal prices. Nobody will spend Rs 40-50 if he or she has to visit a shop for just five minutes. So they prefer to park on the road in front of shops,” said another commuter, Kewal Nath.

When contacted, MC Estate Officer Sushant Bhatia said a drive to remove encroachments from the footpaths in the area would be conducted soon. He said the civic body had been taking action in this direction as the errants were being taken to task.