Civic authorities fail to curb parking nuisances in city: MP

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The sitting MP, Imtiaz Jaleel, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, through a letter to the municipal commissioner and chairman of the High Court-appointed Committee on Encroachments, drew his attention towards the parking nuisances causing regular traffic congestions in the city due to irresponsibility of marriage/function halls; shopping complexes and commercial markets.

He stated that the marriage halls are the major centres causing traffic congestion on a daily basis. To obtain permission from the municipal corporation, they submit fake maps and building plans showing reserved spaces for parking, but in reality, they do spare any designated parking spaces for vehicle parking. As a result, the guests and invitees at the halls resort to parking their vehicles on the roads. The past police commissioner Amitesh Kumar had sealed many halls for using public roads as parking spaces. The issue needs to be addressed, he said.

Adding to the woes, many shopping complexes have converted their parking spaces into shops for commercial gains. As a result, the widened roads are now utilised for parking vehicles (illegally) in front of these complexes. The court should intervene and take action against these so-called permission-holding complexes for eating up the parking spaces and causing traffic congestion. The penal action should also be taken against municipal corporation officials for turning their backs towards the core issue, he demanded.

The MP also underlined the failure of the municipal corporation in declaring the Hawkers Zones in the city despite serving several reminders. Instead of reserving zones, the hawkers are being harassed, unnecessarily.

The MP also pin-pointed the encroachments made by shopkeepers in the commercial markets by constructing illegal stairs on the roads, raising plinths (chabutras) or displaying their selling items on the roads. Hence the regular action by the anti-encroachment squad can stop this nuisance but that is not being done, he mentioned.