Illegal parking clogs Kalyan roads

Kalyan

Kalyan

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Almost all roads in Kalyan city are occupied with two-wheelers, autorickshaws and even a four-wheeler or bus randomly parked for the entire day or years.

Traffic police of Kalyan had initiated action against the illegal parked vehicles on the busy roads of Kalyan city recently. But, there is not much difference as vehicles keep coming back.

“I live on the busy Paar naka road in Kalyan west. I park my two-wheeler below the building as we don’t have a parking lot in the building. When I leave for work, I park the vehicle outside Kalyan station till I return,” said Mahesh Joshi.

Several residents park their vehicles on the busy road for hours while they leave for their workplace. Agra road, Kalyan station, the road below the skywalk at Kalyan station, Murbad road, Adharwadi road in Kalyan (West) and the Pune link road in Kalyan (East) see parking of vehicles on both sides of the road.

Last month, the Kalyan traffic police started a parking system to decongest roads. The police introduced P1P2 parking system, in which two-wheelers will be parked on one side of the road on a particular day.

Initially, the system was introduced for one road in Kalyan (West).

The Kalyan (West) side of the station is chock-a-block with parked vehicles.

“Even though there is a pay-and-park facility outside the station, many prefer to park on roads. Entering the parking lot and parking vehicles consumes time so people park their vehicles on road,” said Sukanya Dhatrak, 30, who parks her two-wheeler on the Kalyan station road daily before catching a train to Mumbai.

The traffic police have started the system on three roads in Kalyan — Paar naka road, Shivaji Chowk road and Bhanu Talkies road in Kalyan (West) that link to the busy Kalyan railway station.

The traffic police claimed they have managed to implement theP1P2 system on three roads.

Earlier, two-wheelers were parked on both sides of Shivaji Chowk road, blocking a major portion of the road.

Since P1P2 parking is introduced, only one side of the road has vehicles parked on a particular day.

“There are some randomly parked vehicles. We impose fines and warn them to follow the P1P2 parking system. Many vehicle owners claim that they were not aware of the system. Putting up boards about the new parking system has not helped,” said Sukhdev Patil, senior traffic police inspector, Kalyan (West) unit.

The traffic police plans to impose P1P2 parking system on all roads in its vicinity next year, said officials.

“The traffic department is trying all possible ways to ease congestion on the roads. The first measure was implementing the parking system, which the civic body should be doing. With whatever manpower we have, we regularly try and ensure the parking system is followed,” added Patil.

The traffic police fine Rs 300 if a vehicle is parked on non-parking side under the P1P2 system. The traffic police have fined around 150 vehicle owners since the system was imposed.

The parking policy which Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) has been planning to impose for the past five years has not been implemented.

An official from KDMC , who did not wish to be named, said, “There is no plan ready for parking policy. The specific areas which should be included in the policy are not yet decided and so the tenders have not been floated. The spaces for parking are marked on both sides of the roads but the roads are not selected for inviting tenders. The discussion on terms and condition of parking policy is still on.”

Last year the civic body planned to appoint an agency to collect parking fees from two-wheeler and four-wheeler owners on an hourly basis under parking policy. However this project is yet not imposed.

Less manpower

The traffic police have only 24 personnel to monitor traffic movement in the Kalyan (West). They said that there more cops and wardens are required if parking system has to be implemented effectively.

Out of the 24 cops, most of them are deployed at different chowks.

“We are trying to manage the traffic and also take action against illegal parking,” said a traffic police.