E-Paper
Lucknow police scrap 10-month-old ‘no-parking zone’ drive
Lucknow Police discontinues no-parking zones due to aggressive behavior towards crane operators. 45 zones revert to old system as prominent individuals resist enforcement.
Lucknow Police Commissionerate on Monday announced the discontinuation of its 10-month-old initiative to designate areas with traffic congestion as no-parking zones. As a result, 45 designated zones in the city will go back to their old ways.
The decision came after crane operators hired to tow wrongly parked vehicles refused to continue following multiple accounts of vehicle owners being aggressive with them.
Joint commissioner of police (Law and Order) Upendra Agarwal, confirming the development, stated that many prominent individuals in the city disregard the existing system. “When vehicles were towed, some resorted to taking unlawful measures against crane owners. Despite multiple FIRs, there was no discernible impact,” Agarwal remarked.
Another 28 no-parking zones were declared in March taking their total number to 45. Not long after the decision came into effect, several videos of people verbally abusing police and crane operators started doing rounds on social media.
Chandan Singh, whose seven cranes were deployed in several locations in the city, had written to the police noting challenges his operators had been having over the past 8-9 months. “Many people do not adhere to rules and regulations, parking their vehicles in designated no-parking zones. When their vehicles are towed by crane, they engage in aggressive altercations with our staff. Despite filing numerous cases, there has been no improvement,” he stated.
For instance, just two days ago, a group of lawyers had misbehaved with police and crane operators after their car was towed away. Journalists, lawyers, politicians, businessmen, and others have all expressed objections to crane operations and have engaged in misconduct, police said.
