Double parking menace continues on Bhandarkar road
Commuters continue to face inconvenience as double parking is still rampant on Bhandarkar Road
Commuters continue to face inconvenience as double parking is still rampant on Bhandarkar Road.
Days after HT reported the parking violations on lane no. 10, Bhandarkar Road, residents rue of similar scenes on the entire stretch as most lanes saw several two and four-wheelers parked in no parking area. The traffic police vehicle was seen only at a few places on Wednesday and Thursday.
On asked about the process of towing vehicles parked wrongly, an official from the Deccan traffic police division requesting anonymity, said, “We are informed about illegal parking in the Deccan area either through Twitter or Whatsapp. The tempos (vehicles that tow four-wheeler) and cranes (vehicles that tow two-wheeler) start working from any one of the places. Once an area is towed, the patrollers click a picture and send proof of it (the towed area) to the Deccan traffic police Whatsapp group, where all the police inspectors and constable are connected.”
The official said, “The towing vehicles then return to the department to put the illegally parked vehicles. It then goes on the road again, where traffic makes it difficult to reach the following destinations. The individuals handling the towing vehicles must come to office and fill out an excel sheet on the fines. This can take up 30 minutes of their time, which can cause a delay too.”
The Deccan traffic division tows as many as 40 to 50 vehicles a day, inclusive of two and four-wheelers. For vehicles that do not toe the line, a fine of Rs1,071 (GST inclusive) for four-wheelers and a fine of ₹785.56 for two-wheelers are charged.
SP Magar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said, he is aware of the matter and relayed it to the concerned traffic department, who would give an update in two days.
Bhandarkar Road is also notorious for a series of shops that encroach on footpaths, disrupting the pedestrian flow. Madhav Jagtap, deputy commissioner for Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) encroachment and illegal construction removal department, did not respond to calls regarding the issue.