Indiscriminate illegal parking of vehicles right in the middle of the streets in various parts of the city is adding to traffic chaos and endangering the lives of commuters.

Illegal parking has reached menacing proportion in roads such as Bidyut Marg, Madhusudan Marg, Cuttack-Puri Highway, Lewis Road, Ekamra Marg, approach roads of National Highway-5 between Palasuni and Khandagiri Square and the road between Jayadev Vihar Square and Nadankanan Square.

“Traffic congestion has become a daily issue on Jayadev Vihar and Nadankanan Road. It is difficult to wade through the traffic during the peak hours. The problem worsens at night as many vehicles remain parked on either side of the roads till morning. The administration is doing nothing to curb illegal parking and the commuters are bearing the brung,” said Sitanshu Meher, a resident of Patia.

Though the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has put up on-street parking facilities on various wide arterial roads — including Rajpath and Janpath, similar on-street parking facilities are not feasible on narrower roads such as Bidyut Marg, Madhusudan Marg and the road between Jayadev Vihar and Nadankanan.

“The number of vehicles in the city is on the rise and there has to be a plan for managing them. The civic body should come up with concrete plans to provide parking space to vehicles to avoid illegal on-street parking. It has to be done on priority basis,” said social worker Alok Kar.

The situation has worsened so much so that residents of various localities have reached out to the councillors of their respective areas seeking their intervention in the matter. “We took up the matter with the mayor at the recent council meet. We were assured that the police would help us curb illegal parking,” said a councillor.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said that they were coming up with a new parking policy for the city under which such haphazard on-street parking of vehicles will not be allowed in any part of the city. “We have also written to the police seeking their help to get things resolved,” said Jena.

“The shops on the sides of the roads never provide any parking space, forcing us to park on the road and go for our work. It is not our fault but the shopkeepers and the administration who failed to provide us the space. We won’t hesitate to park on other spaces and pay if it is being provided,” said Jayesh Parmar, a resident of Unit-III.

Motorcycles at Unit-II in Bhubaneswar Picture by Ashwinee Pati