No end seems to be in sight for the parking woes at Broadway, the commercial hub of the city, as haphazard parking continues to frustrate traders even as they continue to lament how it took a toll on their business prospects.
Though traffic police had been issuing parking tickets to two-wheelers found parked on one side of the narrow Broadway street for over a month since August 1, even that had come to a halt since Onam.
In fact, the issue of parking tickets has turned out to be an irritant to customers. “Tickets were restricted to second line of vehicles often parked by customers to our shops. But vehicles illegally parked in front of our shops from morning to evening by the employees of a nearby shopping complex and caused all parking problems of Broadway were spared even then,” said P.A. Sageer, president, Broadway Shop Owners Association (BSOA).
The association had since then approached the police with a request to do away with parking at Broadway altogether.
The police started fining the vehicles after the association filed a Right to Information petition with the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic West, in July. The petition sought to know whether the police intended to crack down on illegal parking along Broadway, and whether any individual or organisation has protested against the ban on parking along Broadway, which is a no-parking zone, and what stopped the police from fining owners of illegally parked vehicles in compliance with the Motor Vehicles Act, thus denying the State exchequer its rightful due.
“Around 350 vehicles are illegally parked along the entire Broadway stretch from the CSI Church up to Market Road on a day. If the police were to collect a fine of ₹100 from each, it would contribute a significant amount of ₹35,000 to the exchequer,” said Mr. Sageer.
The association has three proposals for the police to put an end to the parking woes – enforce complete parking ban along Broadway, enforce strict one way so that vehicles entering Broadway from Shanmugham Road along the road in front of Oven Bakery didn’t take a right turn, and evict all illegal roadside vendors who encroached upon the footpath and the road.
The BSOA also proposes to offer an alternative proposal to assist the parking ban by reimbursing the parking fee to customers visiting their shops.
