It was festival season and a few men, who had come for shopping at one of the main commercial streets, were seen loading two-wheelers on to a truck, with the police standing nearby.
The traffic police personnel were instructing them to be quick as there were more vehicles to be removed. It was a punishment that the men had attracted for violating parking norms and they had pleaded with the police to exempt them from paying penalty.
The traffic police granted exemption on the condition that they would help the police load the other vehicles parked in the no-parking area.
On the other hand, clamping locks on wheels of four-wheelers and locking two-wheelers with heavy chains that are commonly seen in practice do not seem to be the solution for the unauthorised parking menace. These vehicles remain on the road till the owner of the vehicle returns, finds the traffic sergeant or reaches the nearest police station and pays the fine to get the lock released. The process takes a longer time than expected as the policeman who has locked the vehicle is unavailable in the vicinity. Though clamping the wheels punishes the owner for his/her act, it seems to cause inconvenience for other road users. The locks to clip the wheels are also proving to be inadequate for the sergeants as the parking rule violation is always on the rise.
However, the police say they are forced to resort to such means to remove two-wheelers parked due to non-availability of a low-height towing vehicle.
The police in Chennai are provided with vehicles in which the platform can be lowered through hydraulic means and we are also waiting for such vehicles in Coimbatore, they say.
(Reporting by M.K. Ananth)
