No-parking to continue on WHC stretch

NAGPUR: Buoyed by the one-month success of the drive of declaring Law College Square-Shankar Nagar Square stretch on West High Court (WHC) Road a no-parking zone for four-wheelers, the city traffic police have decided to continue vigilance and intensify the drive to decongest this patch.Motorists parking vehicles on this stretch will continue to see their four-wheelers towed and impounded. To facilitate the move, the cops had blocked the intersections at Times Square and Coffee House Square. The move showed good results as there were no traffic jams at both the intersections.Though the traffic police have barricaded the intersections, two-wheeler riders are often seem moving barricades to pave way for their vehicles. The cops need to either place permanent dividers or tie the barricades so that it cannot be moved.Jayesh Bhandarkar, senior police inspector (traffic) and in-charge of Chamber-II, said the parking ban for four-wheelers was possible because of good results in the past one month as no complaints of congestion were reported from this patch.“People have understood that we will not tolerate illegal parking. When they realized that we towed vehicles away, 90% motorists have stopped parking there,” he said,“Barring Dharampeth Vyapari Sangh (DVS), we have not received any objection over the ban and got one suggestion from occupants of Golden Palace,” the senior PI said.However, shopkeepers on this stretch said they would launch a protest against the traffic police, who “didn’t consider their suggestions”. Under the banner of DVS, a delegation of shopkeepers had met commissioner of police K Venkatesh and DCP (traffic) Ravindrasinh Pardeshi to allow parking of four-wheelers at least on one side of the road.“Both the CP and DCP had assured us that a proper study would be done about traffic issues on the road. We had asked the top cops to verify our suggestions scientifically. They should have taken the decision after a thorough study of the traffic flow on the road and feedback from residents as well as shop owners. But they chose not to,” said DVS president Dinesh Chabbra.Dinesh Naidu, secretary of the Golden Palace Apartments Condominium, had submitted some suggestions. He said the one-month experiment showed positive results at a few patches. “But parking of four-wheelers should be allowed on both sides between Coffee House Square and Laxmi Bhuvan Square as there is sufficient space,” he said.Samar Das, another member of DVS, said that from Batukbhai Square to Shankar Nagar Square, the width is uneven but there are a few patches where cars and two-wheelers could be parked.