Parking rules do not apply to used car dealers..NitinPatil
The instances of traffic police cracking down on the owners of wrongly parked vehicles in the city are growing by the day. Thus one gets to see two-wheelers being towed away and car-wheels getting jammed when these vehicles are found parked on the wrong side of the road (vis-a-vis the stipulated P1-P2 parking schedule allowed on the city roads) or outside the demarcated parking zones.
While the traffic police is expected to keep the roads free of wrongly parked vehicles, the onus of keeping the footpaths free for pedestrians lies with the Pune Municipal Corporation – in fact, its anti-encroachment department.
However, both traffic police and the PMC department seem to have developed a selective amnesia when it comes to second hand cars belonging to many used car dealers parked on the roadside across the city.
If the scores of used car dealers who have sprung up in the city in the last one year or so have added to the pedestrian woes by pushing them off the sidewalks, the already choked carriage space on city roads too have further shrunk with hundreds of these cars dotting the city roads as part of its daily merchandise.
“We take action against the vehicles for wrong parking. Our basic job is to keep the traffic flow smooth. However, as far as the issue of second hand cars being parked on the footpaths and roads is concerned, it should be tackled both by the PMC and the traffic branch together. It is primarily the responsibility of anti-encroachment department of the municipal body,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Mahesh Ghurye.
Head of the anti-encroachment department of PMC Ramesh Shelar was unable to say whether any concrete drive had been taken up against the used car dealers.
Civic activist and convener of ‘Pedestrians First’, Prashant Inamdar said action against the second hand car dealers was the responsibility of the PMC. “Despite blatant violation of rules by the second hand car dealers, the PMC and traffic police are acting in connivance and letting them be. If there is no coordination between the traffic police and the PMC, what is the use of the weekly mobility meetings,” Inamdar said.
Meanwhile, municipal commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi said the civic administration was soon planning a special squad to keep in check this menace. “We will soon set up a special squad for taking action against such illegal parking which encroach upon the space meant for pedestrians,” said Pardeshi.
But none of them had anything to say why P1-P2 parking rules – applicable to all citizens – was not being enforced in the case of the used car dealers.
What used car dealers say
* V K Jandial of Jandial Motors in Wanavdi denied that he was encroaching upon any public space for the business. “We do not use the footpath for displaying the cars, but only the frontage of our shop and people get ample space to walk. Keeping the cars parked on the road is easier as customers always ask for test-drives.”
* “We use much of the pedestrian space by parking the cars on the footpath. But we cannot help it, as there is a paucity of space. Attempts should be made to create a centralised market space for used car dealers who do not have corporate backing,” said Bittoo Sahani of Bittoo Motors located at Hadapsar Road.