STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Live and Let Live Society of India (LLLSI) has exhausted all its efforts for approaching concerned authorities to check the road side parking of private vehicles including those which have gone off road or have even become scrap and continue to occupy the road space since long, but no attention was paid to this ever increasing problem.
Chairman of the Society Romal Singh and President Santokh Singh Komal in a meeting said that every one, may it be a common man or the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir is realising the problem, with the latter having started devising remedial measures such as the odd-even method like that in Delhi. However the genesis of the problem has not been identified and when elaborately explained by the Society earlier, was not given due consideration.
“It was elaborately explained by our NGO that the private vehicles parked on both sides of the road encroach 2/3rd space of it and the 1/3rd portion left is insufficient for two-way traffic which creates frequent jams. The private vehicles are some times parked in a single road or lane without even caring for a patient who may have to reach hospital. These vehicles are parked even throughout the night”, Komal said.
To overcome this problem the NGO had suggested inclusion of a clause during registration of vehicle that the ‘owner has his own parking place’ and those already registered and park their vehicles on the road sides should be charged suitably. The Chairman Romal Singh mentioned that the vehicles loan are available easily and banks as well as the vehicle agencies lure the customers, even though economically not that well off, to utilise this facility to purchase a vehicle adding that though this facility has its own draw backs of bad debt etc yet it has resulted in increase of number of vehicles on the road leading to traffic congestion.
The LLLSI which had made efforts for the last couple of years to bring to the notice of Government Transport Department, Municipal Corporation and the Traffic Police the issue of shrinking of roads due to encroachments and difficulties being faced by the commoners but it has had no effect on these agencies. The NGO in response to the suggestions invited by Secretary to Government Transport Department from commuters, NGOs and general public, submitted to the Secretary on 13th February 2016 its views for consideration and incorporation in the proposed ‘J & K State Road Safety Policy’ but again there was no development in this direction.
“It is once again brought to the notice of authorities at the helm of affairs that a buyer of private vehicle does not acquire a legitimate right to park his vehicle on the road, encroach the space and cause inconvenience to the public. It needs to be curbed in the public interest. In case it is allowed to continue it would become inevitable for the government to expeditiously plan extra roads for this purpose, not only for the existing number of vehicles but also keeping in view the future expansion”, Komal reiterated adding the entire transport grid needs to be recast with option of monorail and even under the river tunnel as is done in developed nation, open.
