One cannot fail to miss the illegal parking seen all along the paver blocks spread on either sides of SV Road, stretching from Vile Parle Station to the Oshiwara bridge. Residents and shopkeepers don’t forget to complaint to the authorities about the same, but should the authorities be blamed for it, is the key question?
“We have four areas under our division, Juhu, Oshiwara, Versova and DN Nagar. Everyday from 9: 30 am to 11: 30 pm our special squad are clearing these illegal parking from paver blocks. But the irresponsible citizens somehow manage to comeback and commit the same offence”, says Sr. PI, DN Nagar Traffic Division, Amarjit Singh.
“My squad consists of one Sub-Inspector, a qualis vehicle, six private cranes and one police crane. When they come together there is mass action on these kind of parking, which is very helpful,” he adds.
Singh points out on the stringent action taken by his team while on patrol. His squad will either tow the vehicle away and bring it to their traffic booth or will clamp the tyres of an expensive car on the said spot and leave it.
“Our cranes are not equipped to tow away expensive vehicles like Mercedes Benz and Skoda Octavia. As this will cause damage to such cars and the expenses of which will have to be borne by us. Hence we use the clamps, forcing the driver to pay a visit to our office and pay the penalty,” says Singh.
Everyday they tow away around 25–40 vehicles from just SV Road itself, which definitely proves the citizen’s negligence about parking rules. Singh stresses on the fact that citizens should take up the responsibility and see to it that they follow parking rules strictly inorder to avoid any payment of penalty.
But all said and done, the question still remains whether or not the authorities are to be blamed? Well, Deepak Makwana, owner, Fairdeal Chemist on S V Road, Vile Parle West, answers this question for all.
“It’s the government’s responsibility to not sanction license to those who construct commercial complexes without providing parking space for people. But I don’t see anything of that sort happening, hence such illegal parking on paver blocks takes place.”
But contradicting Deepak’s statement is Nikhil Shah, owner, Saral Tiles and Bath Boutique, diagonally opposite Fairdeal Chemist.
“I don’t see much of traffic congestion here on our road. More so, I don’t think any of the retailers on SV Road can afford to ask their customers not to park on paver blocks as customers may feel offended and not visit the shop again,” says Nikhil.
Disha Shah, resident of Lallubhai Park, strongly opposes parking on paver block. She says, “Its horrific to travel on this stretch noting the fact that there’s hardly any space to drive your car. Moreover some irresponsible citizens not only spoil the charm of SV Road but also cause serious traffic conjunction on various sensitive spots like, Bata Signal, Shopper’s Stop Signal and down towards Sony Mony Signal at Vile Parle.”
“It’s good that traffic law enforcers are performing their duties from time to time to ensure smooth ride for people like me who follow parking rules strictly,” concludes Disha.
Source : http://www.andheriplus.com/fullStory.asp?articleID=AP1ART0525200753438