PANAJI: Though the unabated illegal parking is resulting in traffic congestions in the capital city, there is no solution in sight, as the traffic police and CCP are blaming one another for the problem, instead of initiating action.
Officials at the CCP said the traffic department is responsible for enforcing vehicle parking laws in the capital city while the officials at the traffic department said that it is the responsibility of the CCP to identify parking areas in the city.
Illegal parking, which occupies 40 per cent of the streets, is hampering the smooth traffic flow along the city streets and causing inconvenience to the pedestrians.
According to the traffic police, they were lifting two wheelers, parked illegally, using a CCP van and labourers, but the corporation has discontinued with its service, which has affected the crackdown on
illegally parked two wheelers.
A senior traffic police official said that traffic department can’t be blamed for not taking action on illegal parking, and added that Panaji, being a commercial hub, on an average 90,000 vehicles make entry and exit a given day.
Inadequate parking spaces and easy access for the vehicles to enter the footpaths have led to the illegal parking, he said.
“We have issued several letters to the CCP to increase the height of the footpaths and not to issue permission for opening commercial outlets especially along the D B Marg because in the absence of parking spaces, customers and employees park their vehicle on the footpaths,” he said.
However, a CCP official said that despite the assurance given by traffic department, no police personnel were provided to the corporation for issuing challans to the violators, and to maintain the law and order.
The official further expressed resentment over the non-cooperation on the part of the corporators, and added that “the corporators did not allow us to fully implement the scheme of lifting, towing and clamping of the vehicles.”
“The corporation tried to implement the scheme to decongest the city but due to the lack of interest shown by contractor and also the corporators, it could not be implemented successfully,” the official added.
A senior CCP official said that the CCP has very limited powers under the Panaji Corporation Act, 2002, to regulate the traffic in the city, unlike the other authorities of the state administration who have the power to regulate the traffic and take strong action on illegal parking.
“In spite of the CCP’s limitations, all efforts have been made to decongest the city from illegally parked vehicles,” the official added.
Interestingly, taking serious cognizance of the complaint filed in 2015 over illegal parking on footpaths, the Goa Human Rights Commission had ordered the CCP to provide infrastructure and manpower for lifting the illegally parked vehicles and also recommended to constitute a joint flying squad of the CCP and traffic police to control and supervise the movement of traffic.