Bengaluru: Illegal parking a bane for residents

Bengaluru: For residents of M.C Layout, Vijayanagar, driving their vehicles, especially four-wheelers, has become an agonizing affair due to llegal parking at nearby roads. On these 40-feet wide roads nearly half of it gets encroached by illegally parked school vans and buses. The residents find it near-impossible to negotiate their vehicles in the remaining space and it often leads to traffic snarls.

“In four lanes of this residential area, private buses of schools and companies park illegally, leaving very little space for the rest of us. It is difficult for 4-wheelers to make their way through. It gets worse because their view is blocked by buses and drivers cannot see approaching vehicles while taking turns, often leading to accidents,” said resident Jyothi Chowdry.

When they approach bus drivers they retaliate rudely by saying that “they pay road tax and have every right to park there. Others say they will talk to their owners, but nothing happens. To make the situation worse, men come and urinate behind these buses. At some points garbage is also dumped there,” she added. The residents claim that  nothing has been done despite bringing it to the notice of civic and police officials for the past 3 years.

“We have brought it up countless times with the traffic commissioner and corporators. They assure us they will look into it, and the buses are removed for a day or two. But they return,” said Siddalingaiah, another resident.

When contacted, the Corporator seemed unaware of the problem. “Earlier some buses used to be parked there. I wrote to the traffic inspector three months ago and got them fined. I have not received complaints from residents,” said Corporator Umesh Shetty.