Unauthorised parking of vehicles makes East Veli Street chaotic

Unregulated parking has become a pain for road users on many stretches of arterial roads in Madurai.

This is more conspicuous on the stretch of East Veli Street between Munichalai junction and Kamarajar Salai junction.

Traffic police say parking of vehicles is allowed only on the right side of the entire stretch of East Veli Street. Two-wheelers and four-wheelers could be parked only on the right side.

However, at least four levels of parking, two-wheelers on extreme sides of the roads and four-wheelers on middle of the carriage way on both sides, are causing extreme inconvenience to the passing vehicles.

“This stretch of road does not have median as one-way traffic flow is followed. However, the lack of median itself is encouraging double parking on both sides,” said a traffic police personnel.

Vehicle owners have scant regard for the “No Parking” boards erected on the entire right stretch of the road, he complains.

Double parking of vehicles, including four-wheelers on both sides, eats up considerable portion of the carriage way.

“This is the pathetic situation, despite East Veli Street being a bus route,” complains a shopkeeper. Consequently, this unauthorised parking was obstructing free flow of traffic. “I see no difference in the traffic congestion on this road that was witnessed during Deepavali shopping season and even now,” another shopkeeper said.

Since parked cars encroach upon the carriage way even on right side, autorickshaws and cars that come to drop or pick up passengers at the commercial establishments are forced to halt in the middle of the road blocking the vehicles that tend to speed up after crossing a traffic signal on Munichalai junction.

Pedestrians also complain about encroachment of pavements with all sorts of paraphernalia by street vendors or the shopkeepers. This leads to overflowing of pedestrians, including the children and the elderly people, to the carriage way, further slowing down the flow of traffic.

However, an officer of Madurai City Traffic Police claimed that each day 200 to 300 cases of unauthorised parking are booked in the city, including this stretch of road. The fine amount for first-time offender is ₹500 and it goes up to ₹1,500 for repeat violators.

The traffic police also point the accusing finger at lack of any parking space in all the commercial buildings, except a few, which was taking the toll on road users.

Effective policing is required not just to ensure free flow of traffic, but also to make this stretch safer for pedestrians and other road users.