Whose road is it anyway?

Whose road is it anyway?
Nina C George
No, this is not about persons parking their vehicles on roads abutting their houses. It is about the tendency of people parking their vehicles with impunity in residential areas around their workplaces or areas where they hang out on various errands. Well, whose road is it anyway? You cant shrug off your civic responsibility more easily.

Have a road, will park. This appears to be the simple logic governing roads in residential areas of the City.

No, this is not about persons parking their vehicles on roads abutting their houses. It is about the tendency of people parking their vehicles with impunity in residential areas around their workplaces or areas where they hang out on various errands. Well, whose road is it anyway? You can’t shrug off your civic responsibility more easily.

The parking epidemic is spreading its tentacles across the City’s residential layouts. Long lines of haphazardly parked vehicles are a common sight on these otherwise peaceful roads. Many a time, the vehicles are commercial carriers like vans plying for call centres, private establishments and travel operators.

Absolute disregard for traffic rules and regulations and a total mismatch between the growth of the economy and infrastructure are cited as prime reasons for an increase of parking in residential areas.

A sudden spurt in malls, shopping complexes, hotels and companies in residential areas have triggered parking in these places. In flagrant violation of building bye-laws, most commercial establishments don’t have a basement for parking. Where should their employees and visitors leave behind their vehicles?

“We’ve converted a large house into our corporate office. The main attraction is the prime location and reasonable rent. Parking has always been an issue with us. I need to bring my car along because I travel long distances,” says Niranjan Ramakrishna, an employee of an MNC located in Koramangala, near The Forum.

Complaints galore
Well, parking on a busy thoroughfare means that traffic policemen and their punitive actions won’t be far behind. So why not the alleys in the adjacent residential locality which would be deserted for most part of the day? The space comes free. So what if it restricts the mobility and invades into the privacy of those living around the place? This is the attitude of people who park in residential places.

Residents complain that most often it’s difficult for them to take their cars out of their houses because some car would be parked right in front of their houses. There’s no way of even knowing whose car it is, because whoever has parked it will not return till late night. “If we manage to locate the erring drivers, we only end up having bitter arguments,” says a resident in Richmond Town.

Sujatha Menon of Jayanagar says there are at least 15 four-wheelers parked along the otherwise quiet stretch next to her house. These cars are parked till late in the night. “Those who park here have utter disregard for the privacy of those living around. And there’s music blasting from their cars which is a menace. These parked cars restrict and hamper the movement of traffic as well,” says she.

The City Police have been receiving a lot of complaints from residents and most often the police find themselves sorting out bitter tiffs over such issues. “We lack a good parking policy for the City. If we venture out to tow away these vehicles, we will have to easily tow away at least two - three lakh such vehicles every day,”

observes a top police officer in the City. Obviously, the police are just not equipped for such a mammoth task.
This police officer has been trying to incorporate parking in residential areas as part of the offence list. He says that every commercial establishment in residential localities must ideally submit a plan which has a basement parking as well. Notorious for the parking menace in residential areas are localities Sadashivnagar, Jayanagar, Indiranagar, Koramangala, BTM layout, JP Nagar and places closer to the City central.

Instances where storm water drains are covered and converted into parking lots are also common in several residential areas.

BBMP Commissioner Dr S Subramanya says the trend of parking in residential areas is a big menace because the infrastructure simply doesn’t match up with the unprecedented growth. He says he is aware of this problem, but it will take a while before a plan is put in place and enforcement carried out.