Jamshedpur Faces Traffic Chaos Amid Festive Shopping Surge and Illegal Parking Issues

Jamshedpur: Shoppers are thronging markets with the start of the festive season, which has also multiplied illegal parking across the Steel City.“With Durga puja celebrations hardly less than two weeks away and industrial units giving the annual bonus amount to their employees, markets are buzzing with customers. Many shoppers park their cars or bikes in front of the shop they visit, even if the areas fall under the no-parking zone. This leads to traffic snarls,” said Ram Singh, a traffic policeman deployed at Sakchi.A garment shopowner at Sakchi market, Rameshwar Sahu, said, “Illegally parked vehicles block the entry to our store. Often, prospective customers shy away from visiting the place, negatively impacting our business. The administration should ensure that no vehicles are parked outside demarcated parking lots. Heavy fines must be imposed on offenders or vehicles should be towed away. More police personnel should be deployed during festive time.”Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato said, “The number of vehicles have increased manyfold over the years. However, not much has been done to ensure smooth traffic flow. It is a bumper-to-bumper traffic movement from early morning till late night. Illegal parking of heavy vehicles on busy roadsides, narrowing the stretch and often leads to fatal accidents. One Sharanjit Singh of Namda Bustee was mowed down by speeding truck near Burmamines last Wednesday.”Jamshedpur (West) MLA Saryu Roy said, “It is difficult to drive safely nowadays due to large-scale illegal parking at most places. Often more than half of the road is encroached upon by illegally parked vehicles.”Jamshedpur (East) MLA Purnima Sahu said, “My repeated pleas to the local administration to take steps to improve traffic flow has fallen on deaf ears. Many times, even ambulances get stuck in traffic snarls in the absence of an alternate route to reach the medical facility.”There are around 70 police personnel to man the 65 lakh private and public vehicles registered in the city.