3 days after drive, illegal parking & squatters are back at Atta mkt

Noida: Three days after the traffic department conducted a drive to decongest roads in the Atta Market, illegally parked vehicles were back in the area.
After TOI’s report on March 20 on the various roadblocks and bottlenecks on the Capt Vijayant Thapar Marg that bifurcates the Sector 18 and Atta Markets, cops towed away 20 vehicles and issued tickets to 100 others parked illegally in front of the Vinayak Hospital on Maharaja Agrasen Marg, a major contributor to the jam in the area.
By Thursday, scores of haphazardly parked vehicles were back on the curbside of the hospital, constricting the stretch and considerably slowing down traffic towards Sectors 25, 27 and Noida Elevated road.
ACP (traffic) Saurav Shrivastava told TOI that the department had towed away several vehicles and also sensitised people against encroaching on the road on Monday. “We have been told that the illegal parking and squatters were back on the stretch today. We are planning to conduct frequent drives to make the area encroachment free,” he said.
Atta Market has around 700 shops and nearly 60,000-80,000 people visit the mart on weekends and 50,000 people on weekdays.
CB Jha, president of the Atta Market Association, said there is a lack of parking space in the area. “Street vendors also occupy a lot of space on the roads leading to traffic jams. The market association has held a meeting and expressed concern over the issue. We have decided to meet Noida Authority officials to find a solution to this persistent woe,” he said.
A multilevel parking in Noida Sector 18, located just 1.2km from the Vinayak Hospital, can accommodate around 3,000 vehicles at a time but is mostly found 50% vacant as few people use the facility. Sanjay Kumar, who owns a shop in Atta Market, said the multilevel parking is over one kilometre from his shop. “It is simply not an alternative. To park my four-wheeler at the Sector 18 parking and walk down to Atta Market every day is not viable for me and most others here,” he said.
Commuters, who were expecting some relief after the enforcement drive, said the traffic cops should tow away illegally parked vehicles more frequently to expect any sort of adherence.
“People should also develop a traffic sense and park at authorised places only. Roadside parking leaves the area choke-a-block regularly,” Irshad Faiz, a commuter, said.