Police mull specific slots for goods vehicles halting on FC, JM roads

They also plan to remove all the hawkers squatting on FC road and the nearby areas as they are causing a major bottleneck for smooth movement of traffic

The traffic department of Pune police is contemplating allotting designated time for vehicles loading and unloading goods on Fergusson College and Jungli Maharaj roads, where these vehicles abruptly halt and cause chaos.

A vehicle loading goods on JM road near Balgandharv on Wednesday. (HT PHOTO)

SP Vijay Magar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) said, “A new order on designated parking times for heavy goods vehicles is likely to be issued on an experimental basis in the next few days, to observe if it reduces double parking in the area.”

While the traffic department has been attentive to managing vehicles at Kushal Wall Street due to ongoing construction work, locals have repeatedly stated that double parking in the area must be addressed first.

“We will be using jammers against all those vehicle users who park indiscriminately in the area. Also, we have planned to remove all the hawkers squatting on FC road and the nearby areas as they are causing a major bottleneck for smooth movement of traffic. The main issues are parking in ‘no parking’ zones and also the illegal occupation of the road by hawkers,” said Magar.

A manager of a popular restaurant on FC road requesting anonymity, “No parking signboards are not of much help. People will park nonetheless. Even if we don’t put up the notice, customers who are not able to park their cars because of other vehicles parked haphazardly will shout at us as to why we’re being negligent about the parking system.”

The new move of designated timing aims to target this problem, by allotting timings for when heavy vehicles will be able to park and unload their commodities.

On asked whether the order will help reduce traffic congestion, the manager quoted above said, “The order might reduce congestion, but I think it would be better if the vehicles come at night. Rather than making footpaths wider, they should remove a cycling track which is barely put to use and make that as a parking area.”

The traffic department hopes that the order will help reduce traffic congestion, allow for smoother travel, and encourage people to park in the correct lane.