Vehicles stuck in a snarl in front of P&M Mall in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Aug. 1: For shopaholics and movie buffs of the city, P&M Mall is heaven-sent. But regular commuters going past it find the pandemonium surrounding the shopping mall to be a distant cry from the dreamland it promises to be.

Two-wheelers and four-wheelers of visitors are parked on both sides of the road in front of the mall, right from Loyola High School to Polytechnic Chowk. Unmanned vehicles are often abandoned bang on the middle of the road. As a result of the chaotic parking, commuters who go past often find themselves stuck for hours in traffic snarls.

“The new mall is a good thing but people who visit it display very little civic sense. They not only park their vehicles on both sides of the road but also in the middle of the busy thoroughfare and spend hours in the mall,” said Kameshwar Prasad, a motorist whose vehicle was stuck in a traffic snarl in front of P&M Mall.

Officers of the local police station said they had deployed two sub-inspectors, a havildar and a constable to clear the snarls. That, however, has had little effect. “The streets are always chock-a-block, and pedestrians always face the danger of being hit by cars. Children and senior citizens have to be very careful,” said Reema Singh, a pedestrian.

Schoolchildren, who attend educational institutes in the vicinity, also have to face the music of traffic snarls.

“Thousands of children of schools like St Michael’s High School, Don Bosco Academy and Notre Dame Academy pass through this road everyday. Such traffic conditions are dangerous. The smoke and the dust is also harmful,” said Sister Tessy, the principal of Notre Dame Academy.

She added: “We knew that the situation would turn for the worse when the mall was being constructed and spoke to the authorities about it. But they did not take any action.”

While commuters and pedestrians accuse errant vehicle owners, who park their cars and two wheelers on the road, the visitors to the mall plead helplessness, as there isn’t sufficient parking space.

“Why would one leave his vehicle on the road? We are forced to do so, as there isn’t enough space in the parking lot of the mall,” said Suresh Prasad, a visitor to P&M Mall.

The authorities of the shopping mall accepted the problem. “We have parking space for 150 cars but more than 300 vehicles come here. We are forced to close the doors when the parking space is full. Visitors, then, start to park their vehicles on the road,” said Pankaj Kumar, the marketing manager of P&M Mall.

He added: “We are trying to work out to an alternative parking arrangement.”

Patna city superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande said: “I have sent a letter and two reminders to the mall authorities to arrange an alternative parking space. We will arrive at a solution soon.”