District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla on Wednesday ordered complete parking ban along the Container Terminal Road between Kalamassery and Vallarpadam. The ban comes into force straightaway.
He issued the order in his capacity as District Magistrate and Chairman of the Regional Transport Authority. The ban is applicable to all types of vehicles.
Secretaries of local bodies have been asked to install street lights along the road, and to ensure their functioning. Police chiefs of Kochi city and Ernakulam Rural, and the Regional Transport Officer have been asked to submit action-taken reports to the Collector, against motorists found violating the parking ban.
Parking space for around 75 container lorries has been arranged on three acres at Vallarpadam owned by Bharat Petroleum Corporation. The Kerala High Court had taken a suo motu case after many lives were lost on the Container Terminal Road owing to accidents caused by the unauthorised parking of trailers along both sides of the road, and even at U-turns. It was pointed out that day-and-night parking of container lorries, and illegally separated trailer platforms had proved fatal in many cases.
Subsequently, the Collector convened a meeting of stakeholders and said that corrective action was inevitable. The parking ban was enforced to avoid recurrence of accidents on the road.
The copies of the order banning parking have also been sent to secretaries of the Kochi Corporation; Eloor and Kalamassery municipalities; Cheranalloor and Mulavukad grama panchayats; Cochin Port Trust; BPCL; Trade Union Coordination Committee; Greater Cochin Development Authority; and the Advocate General.
Incidentally, this is not the first parking ban along the road as a partial ban had been ordered in the past. The former Collector, M.G. Rajamanickam, had ordered a ban on parking of trailers on the road to put an end to accidents in March 2015. Apart from trailers, parking of other vehicles has also been banned within 100 metres from junctions on the road. In June last year, a Division Bench of the High Court had directed the district administration to strictly implement its decision to ban parking of containers along the road. The court issued the directive while initiating a suo motu case on the basis of a letter submitted by a High Court judge.
