Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) is planning to reintroduce the pay and park system for vehicles in the light of increased parking woes, said CMC president Sumithra R. Nayak on Wednesday.
Presiding over an ordinary meeting of the council in Udupi, Ms. Nayak said that suitable places to introduce the system will be identified and the issue will be brought before the council in the next meeting.
Council members raised the issue of haphazard parking on the flanks of roads in the city triggering a debate.
Udupi Town Traffic Police Sub Inspector Abdul Khader told the meeting that people going for work to Mangaluru and other places keep their vehicles parked throughout the day haphazardly near the Service Bus Stand, Mythri Complex, Jataka Stand and surrounding areas. Indiscriminate parking also eats into the available space and introduction of pay and park system will help streamline it, he suggested.
To this, Member of Legislative Assembly K. Raghupathi Bhat responded positively and said that the Municipal Commissioner should conduct a survey to identify places for introduction of the system.
Mr. Khader further said that seven or eight junctions have been identified in the city under the guidance of the MLA. He also urged the CMC to properly maintain zebra crossings in the city. Also, pedestrians are put to severe inconvenience by footpath vendors, he added.
The policeman also suggested widening the Udupi-Ambagilu and Ambagilu-Manipal roads to facilitate smooth movement of vehicles. The authorities concerned should take suitable corrective measures at Kallianapura-Santhekatte Junction on NH 66 that has been identified as a black spot, he suggested.
Councillor Prabhakar Poojari said that paver roads in some parts of the city were damaged in a month and urged the council keep bills of contractors who executed such improper works pending. Mr. Bhat suggested to keep the bills pending for a year to verify work quality.
When councillor Ramesh Kanchan said that some contractors threaten officials taking the name of the MLA, Mr. Bhat asked him to inform such incidents to him. He would not support such contractors.
Responding to inflated water bills raised by councillor Sundar Kalmady, Mr. Bhat asked KUIDFC officials to replace defective meters.
CMC vice-president Lakshmi Manjunath, Municipal Commissioner Uday Shetty and others were present.
