Residents fume over illegal parking, seek strict rules in Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: Lanes, bylanes in residential colonies and areas across the city are crammed and choked with haphazardly parked vehicles leaving little space for pedestrians. Residents said due to lack of a parking policy and space in residential areas, they are facing serious inconveniences while authorities are not taking any step despite repeated complaints.
“Nothing can be worse that an ambulance could not enter a lane because of a parked vehicle. By the time people could locate the owner of the vehicle and ask him to shift his car, the condition of the patient had deteriorated and he breathed his last,” said G N Mohanty, president of Sastri Nagar Baristha Nagarika Mancha.
“One will find cars parked on colony roads, by the roadside, under trees, in front of parks, shops and temples, over drains — almost everywhere,” said Mohanty. He said the residential welfare associations have raised the issue several times before the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and police commissionerate, but in vain.
This sight of vehicles parked bumper to bumper is not only in Sastri Nagar. Be it Saheed Nagar, Satya Nagar, Baouji Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Forest Park, Nayapalli, Baramunda, Soubhagya Nagar, Jagamara, Maitree Vihar, Niladri Vihar or Sailashree Vihar, the story is same everywhere.
The situation is worse in localities with big commercial establishments or hospitals, or educational institutes or houses rented out to private offices.
“The city is witnessing massive transformation with commercial establishments coming up almost everywhere. With a hospital here, there is no space for patients to park vehicles. That is why they are looking for parking spaces in lanes and bylanes causing inconvenience to residents. The BMC should come up with micro-zoning rules so that commercial establishments like hospitals, offices, schools and corporate offices should not be allowed to come up in residential areas,” said Ashok Kumar Behera, a resident of Unit-4.
Urban planners said real estate has seen an exponential rise in Bhubaneswar in the past few years, but the supplementary parking space has not grown, rather open spaces have been encroached upon.
“Single-floor houses have been converted into highrises. While more families moved into the same space meant for single families, the supporting infrastructure remained almost the same. As standard of living improved, families bought more than one car, but parking space remained the same leading to such chaotic situation,” said P K Das, a retired employee of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA).
Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das said, “We are aware of the problem and have earlier launched a drive to check unauthorised parking with the police. Several roads in the city have been declared as no-parking zones. In coming days we would ensure strict enforcement of illegal parking.”