Staff Reporter
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation takes the decision to rein in erring drivers
NGOs to be roped in for effective implementation of the rule
Initially, officials not be tough with vehicle owners
BHUBANESWAR: To check the ‘menace’ of erring drivers who throw traffic out of gear by parking their vehicles at busy places, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally issued notification declaring two road stretches in the capital city as ‘no parking zone.’
The road from Xavier Square to Kalinga Hospital Square, Chandrasekharpur and from Orissa State Warehousing Corporation Godown to Big Bazar front, Satya Nagar have been declared as no parking territory, according to BMC Commissioner Aparajita Sarangi.
She said consequent to notification any parking on these roads would be treated as punishable offence. The notification to enforce no parking zone in the capital city is the first of its kind.
“BMC, Khurda Police and District Administration will be working in close coordination to implement the notification,” Ms. Sarangi said. The Transport Department procured a tow-away vehicle to clear vehicles parked in busy localities.
“Initially, we are not going to come down heavily on vehicle owners. Our officials will soon go for a series of public announcements cautioning on consequences of parking in the prohibited zones,” Ms. Sarangi said.
Since there was no enforcement on no parking concept in Bhubaneswar before and people were not used to it, some non-government organisations would be roped in to inject awareness among citizens, the BMC Commissioner said.
“If we notice some deviation even after that, we will be forced to tow away their vehicles from the place of parking,” she warned.
The notification has come in force after a series of steps taken by BMC to ensure vehicles are parked in proper place. First, the civic body allotted as many as 11 new parking lots against the existing seven zones. But, except one or two places, nobody used the parking zones.
Subsequently, to instil a sense of fear the BMC earmarked some no parking zones but it could not be enforced due to absence of proper notification.
