Agartala, May 28, 2019: In a bid to give respite to people from the perennial problem of traffic jam and other related difficulties, the High Court of Tripura today in an important verdict ordered a crackdown on illegal parking in the capital and asked Traffic Police to get its act together, A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Arindam Lodh passed the order and also directed the state government to comply with its order within 15 days, said Kawshik Nath, who filed a Public Interest Litigation against traffic woes.
The Court expressed its serious unhappiness that vehicles continued to be parked haphazardly on pavements
and on roads in the capital making it impossible for pedestrians to use the footpath. Moreover, almost all the
auto-rickshaws in the city could be seen transporting even 6 passengers.
Besides, illegal parking of vehicles on roads is rampant in the capital. There have been complaints of traffic
congestion in Kaman Choumuhani, Netaji Choumuhani, Post Office Choumuhani, Ramthakur Sangha and Mantri Bari roads, RMS to Post Office Chowmuhani road, GB Bazaar owing to unauthorized parking of vehicles.
It has been found that visitors to certain shopping malls, business establishments have been parking vehicles on roads.
In absence of parking facilities in basements in such buildings, vehicles are left on the roads by their owners. Moreover, the roads in these heavily crowded areas are also not wide enough to cope up with the traffic load. The encroachment has become a nuisance for the local residents as well as for the commuters. In Kaman Choumuhani area, some shopkeepers used to make temporary encroachment during the day by extending their shop towards the road and officials of Agartala Municipal Corporation acting ostensibly on political pressure are having a blind eye to this. Also, the ill-practice of parking vehicles at the Mantri Bari road has become a norm. Foothpaths have been encroached in many parts by street vendors.
To everyone’s surprise, traffic cops remain mute spectators most of the time. Since there is no footpath for
pedestrians in the city, the problem becomes worse and pedestrians are forced to walk in the middle of the
road. The Court will take stock of the situation on June 19 next. (Courtesy: Tripura Times Dt May 29, 2019)
