SHILLONG: The trend of parking vehicles anywhere as per the whims and fancies of the drivers in the absence of sufficient parking places, has affected the smooth flow of traffic in the city.
Shillong has grown over the years and congestion has reached its peak but, the city still lacks basic facilities such as proper parking lots.
Finding a place to park a vehicle in the city is a major problem as the number of vehicles are on the rise against the decline in availability of space.
Police Bazar is a case in point. One would find it difficult to park even a two wheeler since most of the temporary parking space along the road side is found to be packed with motorcycles whereas four wheelers have no other option but to park in MUDA shopping mall.
Due to this, people have made their own makeshift parking lots at their whims and fancies and one example is the Butcher Road.
Though there is no official parking lot in Butcher road, the area is often converted into a full- fledged parking space with vehicles parked on both sides of the road. The same applies to Paltan Bazar and the area opposite to Civil Hospital besides many other parts of the city where wrong parking often leads to traffic snarl.
Commercial buildings without proper parking facilities also add to the problems. Despite the mandatory provision in the Meghalaya Building Bye Laws, 2010 which stipulates that commercial complexes should have proper space for parking vehicles, majority of the commercial buildings do not comply with the provision of the law.
The problem is not restricted to the commercial complexes constructed years back, but even the recently constructed ones do not reserve space for parking.
In this context, cooperation between the state and the people is a must to negate the existing traffic menace, sources said. More initiatives like the recent coordination between the Dorbar Shong and the Traffic Department is the need of the hour, sources added
When contacted, East Khasi Hills SP M Kharkrang said that the Shillong police is somehow making parking arrangements by ensuring that the parking places do not hamper the traffic flow of the city.
He also suggested that the only way left is now to expand the parking lots and convert the existing parking areas into multi- parking lots.