Many who attended the public grievances’ meeting highlighted the way some schools are contributing to the traffic chaos at the Central Business District (CBD) by parking their vans on the roadside.
City police commissioner Bhaskar Rao assured to clear the mess shortly and ensure the smooth movement of traffic.
People attending the meet organised by the commissioner said the traffic police are going easy on the offenders. Rao responded by saying: “There are people who are more equal than others and they try to use the road more.”
“A few have raised an issue over the traffic mess made by the schools at CBD. This is serious. We’ll shortly instruct the schools to park the vehicles inside their compounds. They can’t obstruct traffic movement on the main road. It creates nuisance and trouble to people using the road,” he added.
People said school vans and private cars occupy nearly half of the road. “Even the bus stops and bus bays on Residency Road are encroached. We’ve raised this several times, but in vain,” Vijay, a resident of Shantinagar said.
Shivakumar from Domlur said schools should be given different timings. But the commissioner made it clear that the road will be cleared and offenders penalised. Asked when the police would act, he said: “We need to serve the notice and implement the move.”
The commissioner asked the BBMP to implement pay and parking to nudge people to use public transport. “Vehicles will be parked more. So, if the BBMP collects fees, it’d bring revenue and also force people to use public transport,” Rao said.