In the absence of provision for parking of vehicles in special buildings and complexes, vehicle parking by the road on the Umarkote-Nabarangpur State Highway has resulted in traffic mess in the town.
It is this indiscriminate parking that holds up the traffic on many stretches. Encroachment by building owners and shop owners has added to the trouble.
Traffic snarls in front of the SBI main branch, Hotel Sarathi, Kalia Store, TVS show room and Jagadamba Traders are becoming a major problem during the peak hours resulting in several accidents. The old bus stand here, which is only meant for parking of Government buses, has now turned out to be a parking zone for auto rickshaws. Auto rickshaw drivers illegally park their vehicles here putting the common people in utter trouble.
The administration, a few days back, had put restrictions on the private operators to park their vehicles in the area. It has become a regular affair to find that the shop owners and the owners of auto rickshaws are coming down to pick up a fight. Though for the sake of parking separate spaces are available for them, the operators are hardly following the rules and parking their vehicles anywhere they want.
Mukesh Kumar Jain, a shop owner, said the local vendors have reported to the local police several times about the space crunch being created due to the illegal parking, but in vain. What is shocking is that these auto drivers pay to their union to illegally park their vehicles in the old bus stand, he added.
“We don’t have to worry about our vehicles because we pay for parking,” said an auto driver. As many as 100 auto rickshaws are parked here on a daily basis.
The monthly income goes to the leader of the union, affirmed a member of the auto drivers’ union.
However, though the illegal practice continues to irk common people, but no action has been taken so far by the police.
Rabi Nayak, who uses the route to go to office every day, said, “It is extremely risky to walk on the road where vehicles are speeding. The auto drivers should not park their vehicles on the footpath and old bus stand encroaching upon the public places.”