Parking vehicle on main roads can invite a hefty fine!

Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru, Feb. 10: Are you in the habit of parking your vehicle on a main road? If so, you have to change your habit or be ready to shell out Rs 1,000 for parking your vehicle on a main road in the city. Bengaluru Traffic Police are penalising those parking vehicles on the main roads even though neither no parking sign boards are installed nor the traffic police advise vehicle owners through public address system.

For instance, Swaroop Sridhar was shocked when he received a traffic violation ticket from the Enforcement Automation Centre of the Bengaluru City Traffic Police. Sridhar has been parking his four-wheeler (KA03NA8677) on Swami Vivekananda Road (earlier it was called Old Madras Road) for the last two decades. “I faced no problem for the last 20 years. I used to park my vehicle in front of my office on Swami Vivekananda Road. Traffic police did not tell me not to park my vehicle in front of my office all these years, but they recently sent me a notice stating that I have to pay a Rs 1,000 penalty for parking my vehicle on the main road,’’ said Sridhar.

The traffic police served a notice to Sridhar on March 19, 2021 to inform him that he has to pay Rs 1,000 for parking his vehicle on the main road at 11.48 am on March 17, 2021. He tried to pay the penalty online but was shocked to see that he has to pay a Rs 23,000 penalty and it is not just Rs 1,000.

“I was shocked to see all the violations in one month. The traffic police inspector or a traffic police constable should have advised or directed me not to park my vehicle when the first traffic violation was registered against me. Now, they are asking me to pay Rs 23,000 for parking my vehicle on the main road 23 times,’’ he said.

Sridhar wrote a letter to the Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Police stating that the traffic police without putting up “No Parking boards” have issued tickets for parking his vehicle on the main road. Halasuru traffic police inspector in a letter dated February 5, 2022 informed Sridhar that the traffic police have booked cases against parking his vehicle on the main road as the stationary vehicle was hindering the smooth movement of traffic on Swami Vivekananda Road.When this correspondent visited the spot, he found many vehicles, including a towing vehicle, parked on both sides of the main road (Swami Vivekananda Road) that is just a stone’s throw away from Halasuru Traffic Police Station.