Parking issues persist at pedestrian-only street

Traffic police struggle to enforce fine at newly renovated street in Raja Bazaar

RAWALPINDI:

The district administration and traffic police have banned motorcycle parking at the entry and exit points of the newly renovated Raja Bazaar pedestrian street.

Banners, boards and panaflex signs have also been installed at both entrances and exits.

Despite the ban, however, it has become routine for large numbers of motorcycles to be parked near the barriers at both the entry and exit points of the Raja Bazaar pedestrian street.

Police and the district administration have found it difficult to remove the motorcycles, while issuing challans to motorcyclists often leads to arguments and protests between riders and the administration.

As a result, the traffic police have become virtually helpless, while the large-scale parking of motorcycles has begun to badly affect the traffic system at Fawara Chowk.

The motorcycles parked at the entry and exit gates of Raja Bazaar pedestrian street belong either to hawkers and helpers working at shops inside Raja Bazaar or to stall holders, according to the report.

The shopkeepers and helpers said bringing motorcycles inside Raja Bazaar was prohibited and asked where they should park them.

They said parking motorcycles near the gates had become a compulsion.

They alleged that police had turned the entry and exit points of Raja Bazaar into a source of income. They said that if motorcycles could not be parked there, an alternative nearby parking facility should be provided.

The traffic police and Municipal Corporation, however, said the large number of motorcycles parked at the entry and exit points of the new commercial centre was paralysing the traffic system and causing difficulties for citizens, shoppers, families and women visiting the area.

The central traders' association of Raja Bazaar has therefore been asked to prevent its helpers and stall holders from parking motorcycles at the market's entry and exit points.

Otherwise, the authorities said, challans would be issued from this week and a fine of Rs2,000 would be imposed on each motorcycle. Motorcycles could also be impounded and air could be released from their tyres.