Cops turn a blind eye to illegal parking on new widened roads

♦ Widened roads in Old City congested by illegal parking

♦Hotels and eateries occupy multiple rows for parking

♦ Complaints to traffic police go unanswered, no action taken

♦ Roads narrowed, bottlenecks persist despite widening efforts

♦ Activists allege collusion between police and business owners

♦ Peak hours chaotic due to illegal parking on busy stretches

♦ Multiple schools, colleges, malls affected by traffic gridlock

♦ Call for renewed enforcement to clear illegal parking encroachments

Hyderabad: The road widening works in several areas of the Old City, which were meant to have a wider road, remain congested with haphazard parking by the commercial establishments, including restaurants, hotels, and showrooms. However, the traffic police turned a blind eye to the illegal parking of vehicles on newly widened roads.

Many hotels, restaurants, other eateries, and major commercial establishments have been violating the traffic rules by parking haphazardly, especially on the newly widened roads across the Old City. Following the widening of the road, motorists expect to have a wider stretch to drive on, but illegal encroachments of these eateries and commercial establishments are eating up the space, the road becomes narrow, and the passage continues to have the same bottlenecks.

It has been observed that these commercial establishments are taking two, three, and four rows of parking on the roads. Despite several complaints, there has been no response from the traffic police to act against these illegal encroachments.

Mohammed Ahmed, a local activist, said that in various areas of the Old City, these eateries and commercial businessmen are creating a mess on the roads through the chaotic parking of vehicles. Though the roads were expanded to ease traffic movement, it is proving to be a problem instead of a relief. “Despite several complaints to the traffic police, they remain numb. This clearly shows that the traffic police are hands in gloves with these hotels and commercial men,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed mentioned that he had raised concerns with the Falaknuma Traffic Police regarding the illegal parking of vehicles at hotels, paan shops, showrooms, and furniture shops, which occupy a significant portion of the newly widened road in Himmatpura, Fateh Darwaza, Shalibanda, Khilwath Road, and the surrounding areas, but no action has been taken so far. During peak hours, the illegal parking along the entire stretch of Shalibanda and Fateh Darwaza creates daily chaos. “As there are three colleges, five schools, three hotels, and a shopping mall, due to the illegal parking in the stretch, it causes traffic gridlock, and commuters regulate the traffic on a daily basis,” informed Ahmed.

A similar situation was witnessed at hotels and showrooms located on newly widened roads in Baba Nagar, Chandrayangutta, Moin Bagh, Moghapura, Edi Bazar, Santosh Nagar, Saidabad, Tadban, Bahadurpura, Kishanbagh, and Alijah Kotla, among other areas. The popular Irani chai hotels and restaurants that are encroaching on the road space include Rumaan Hotel (Khilwat, Fateh Darwaza, Alijah Kotla), Redaan, Imperial, Green Bawarchi, Anmol Hotel and Mandi House, Safina, Meraj Bakery, Excellent Café, Naigara, Sohail, Savera, showrooms like Jannat, and others.

“These establishments are making a road stretch chaotic for motorists. The traffic police must take action against them and take immediate measures to bring the widened road into use for vehicular traffic,” said Venkatesh, a resident of Lal Darwaza.

A few years ago, the GHMC, in a joint operation with the police department, took measures to normalise the traffic and improve the traffic system in the city by taking action against commercial establishments, especially hotels, and they revoked their trade licenses if found to be in violation. A similar drive should be taken up to clear the illegal encroachments of parking on roads, say motorists.