Jamshedpur : Despite the fact that the district police have set guidelines for auto-rickshaw operators in plying the vehicles on the road and also in parking them at the notified auto-stands set up in every localities across the city the operators are flouting norms giving rise to traffic woes.
One will find an auto-rickshaw stand at every convenient corner of the localities like Sonari, Kadma, Bistupur, Sakchi, Sidhgora, Golmuri and Railway station area. These auto-rickshaws stands have been mushroomed apart from the ones which have been set up as per the instructions of traffic police.
At Bistupur, the auto-rickshaw operators have set up unauthorised stands close to the Voltage Building near the Adityapur turning roundabout, Kalplana Building in Contractors area close Gujarati Sanatan Samaj and Jamshedpur Women’s College.
With vendors eating into a good share of the space on the other side of the road, the stand has worsened the plight of road users.
Autorickshaws are often parked in two rows, blocking virtually half of the road.
Merchants too are inconvenienced by the indiscriminate proliferation of illegal autorickshaw stands. “Our business nosedived after an illegal autorickshaw stand began operating in front of a row of shops,” said the owner of a shop at Sakchi.
At present, there are over 16,000 auto-rickshaws and over 300 stands in the city. Of these, more than 50 per cent of the stands are unauthorised and are located in the residential areas.
Auto stands at residential areas not just create congestion on neighbourhood roads but also “an unhealthy atmosphere”, claim residents. Auto stands are located in 17 densely populated neighbourhoods, including Bistupur, Sonari, Kagalnagar, Burmamines, Sakchi, Jugsalai and Baridih.
Unauthorised parking behind Voltas building in Bistupur, where auto drivers park vehicles along the arterial stretch, causes inconvenience to residents. “Parking of autos leads to congestion on the narrow road leading to South Park,” said resident Kumar Anand.
It is the same case in front of TRF on the stretch connecting Burmamines and Sakchi. “Autos are parked on either side of the busy road in front of the TRF Company, blocking the turning angle of intersection. As a result, persons on vehicles cannot spot vehicles turning the bend, raising chances of accidents,” Rajeshwar, a resident of Burmamines, said.
He said as the number of autorickshaws and taxis increased, their owners and drivers formed unions and occupied public space for auto and taxi stands. They would get the stands inaugurated by politicians. There were many such autorickshaw and taxi stands in the city.
While clearing encroachments upon roads, the then district administration had declared that in future no road would be allowed to be encroached upon in the city. But the authorities were doing little in this direction now, he said.
