The authorities claim to be taking various steps to facilitate urban development, but traffic congestion is becoming a routine feature of the State capital due to factors like lack of parking space for public transport vehicles. For around 300 plus city buses functioning in the State capital there is hardly any designated parking space available due to which the city buses are parked on the roadsides which contributes to traffic congestion.
When asked about this, SP Traffic, Pradeep Rai informed that the police is not responsible authority to designate parking place for the transporters. He said that the old Raipur bus stand is the authorised parking space and the bus operators are regularly reminded to park their vehicles over there.
President of Mahanagar City Bus Mahasangh, Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal said that at present around 275 local city buses are functional on total 13 different routes of the city. There should be different specified bus stands on all these routes. But the administration has authorised only two bus stands for all local transporters, he said.
The two existing bus stands are in a pathetic condition and lack even basic facilities including adequate parking space, sanitation and security arrangements. He said that earlier the back area of the Parade ground was provided to the local city transporters for parking their vehicles. Bus operators plying on four routes of the city including Parade Ground-Doiwala, Parade Ground-Premnagar-Parbal, Parade Ground-Palio-Nayagaon and Parade Ground-Rispana are allowed to park their buses in this area. The city bus union members complained that the police force the bus operators to park their vehicles at Raipur bus stand.
However, Dandriyal also added that this bus stand is in a dilapidated condition and lacks even the basic facilities and security measures needed for the buses. The ground is also not leveled and cemented, and full of potholes which turn into puddles of stagnant water especially after rain, he added. He said that a bus costs lakhs of rupees but there is no safety for it at this bus stand. There is no boundary wall or any entrance gate constructed to prevent any untoward incident. Many times the same parking space is used by the private transporters leading to congestion at the parking space. Separate parking space should be designated for private and local transporters, stressed Dandriyal.
Despite the consistent reminders given to the state authorities the facilitation of appropriate parking space of city buses is still pending.