Despite efforts by the traffic police to ease chaos on roads, the traffic scene in the city is getting from bad to worse. Unauthorised auto rickshaw stands are hampering movement of vehicles and pedestrians. An apt example is at Sakchi, where there are five unauthorised stands. Concerned over the situation, a team of JNAC inspected the Mango-Sakchi auto stand and took action against the vehicles parked in no-parking zones.
However, in the past the traffic police and civic bodies have failed to clear roads of illegal occupation due to political pressure or resistance. The problem has been aggravated by haphazard parking on roads, leaving very little space for the traffic to move.
With vendors eating into a good share of the space on the other side of the road, the stand has worsened the plight of road users. Auto Rickshaws are often parked in two rows, blocking virtually half of the road.
At present, there are over 25,000 auto-rickshaws and over 300 stands in the city. Of these, more than 50 per cent of the stands are unauthorised and are located in the residential areas. Auto stands at residential areas not just create congestion on neighbourhood roads but also “an unhealthy atmosphere”, claim residents. Auto stands are located in 17 densely populated neighbourhoods, including Bistupur, Sonari, Kagalnagar, Burmamines, Sakchi, Jugsalai and Baridih.
Unauthorised parking behind Voltas building in Bistupur, where auto drivers park vehicles along the arterial stretch, causes inconvenience to residents. “Parking of autos leads to congestion on the narrow road leading to South Park,” said resident.
It is the same case in front of TRF on the stretch connecting Burmamines and Sakchi. “Autos are parked on either side of the busy road in front of the TRF Company, blocking the turning angle of the intersection. As a result, persons on vehicles cannot spot vehicles turning the bend, raising chances of accidents,” Rajeshwar, a resident of Burmamines, said.
He said as the number of auto rickshaws and taxis increased, their owners and drivers formed unions and occupied public space for auto and taxi stands. They would get the stands inaugurated by politicians. There were many such autorickshaw and taxi stands in the city. While clearing encroachments upon roads, the then district administration had declared that in future no road would be allowed to be encroached upon in the city. But the authorities were doing little in this direction now, he said.