Parking defeats road widening

A massive infusion of funds by the state government to the Mangalore City Corporation for improvement of its basic infrastructure saw the city get broad concrete roads in its central business district areas. However, ever-growing influx of vehicles in the city has forced motorists to park vehicles along these widened roads leaving motorists with the usual smaller as ever before passage and pedestrians to contend with, while traversing on the roads.
Good example of this can be seen on the road leading from Ballalbagh to Mannagudda where vehicles are parked on the left side of the road from Ballalbagh junction up to state warehousing corporation junction. Pedestrians walk on the road on this stretch as absence of footpath puts them at a disadvantage. This is the case near Urwa Stores, Car Street, road leading to Circuit House via Kadri where widened concrete roads double as impromptu parking lots.
A singular major problem as far as parking in the city is concerned, notes Rajath Rao, a college student, is lack of dedicated parking lots for two and four-wheelers. It is common to find cars parked in areas usually earmarked for motorcycles and vice-versa, he notes. This, observes, Sandesh Shetty, a travel agent has led to a situation where motorists have to struggle to find parking space and widened concrete roads come in handy for many.
Mangalore City Corporation commissioner K N Vijayprakash admits that vehicles parked on widened city roads is indeed a major problem. There is lot of resistance from locals when we try to introduce alternate day parking on one side of the widened stretch of road, he told TOI pointing to the case of Car Street where vehicles are parked on both sides. This denies people benefit of enjoying the whole effort put in to widening the roads, Vijayprakash points.
Former DC V Ponnuraj had noted that on-street parking was affecting free flow of traffic. Ponnuraj had issued a notification regulating parking and no-parking areas in the central business district of the city that was to be strictly enforced to ensure free flow of traffic and directed the traffic police to act accordingly. But this determination exhibited by Ponnuraj to curb on street parking is on the wane.
Expert opinion
Mangalore city police can crack down on on-street parking once MCC puts in place a system of drainages and footpaths. The civic body has expressed its intent to address these lacunae that cropped up while widening and concreting roads utilising the first tranche of special funds released to it by
the state government. Once the system of footpaths is in place, motorists will not be allowed to indulge in on-street parking. Manjunath Shetty, Traffic Police Inspector, Mangalore City Police.