Have a four-wheeler? You could do with an extra pair of hands, and feet. Else, just use public transport, say Patna police.

The police want all four-wheeler owners in the city who do not have chauffeurs to keep their vehicles at home. They have come up with this advice because a government agency and several others have encroached on parking lots, leaving little space for vehicle-owners.

Instead of being lenient to vehicle-owners who are in this precarious situation, the police have launched a drive to fine those who park their vehicles outside areas earmarked for the purpose. In going ahead with this drive, the authorities are ignoring the fact that these areas earmarked for parking are being used for something else, which comes in the way of their usage for the designated purpose.

Patna superintendent of police (traffic) P.K. Das said it was the vehicle owners' duty to park their vehicles at the right place. He, however, ignored the fact that a majority of parking spaces in the city have been encroached on in different ways, leaving very little space for vehicle owners.

"We have launched a special drive. I appeal to people to park their vehicles at the right place. If they want to stop for some work, they should ask their drivers to drop them there and go and park the vehicles elsewhere. Those who don't have drivers should leave their vehicles home and use public transport like autos, buses etc if they cannot find proper parking spaces for their vehicles," the SP told The Telegraph.

On Tuesday, the police meant business. They used cranes to tow away around 50 four-wheelers that were wrongly parked. Around Rs 1,60,300 was collected as fine from 497 vehicles (four-wheelers as well as two-wheelers).

"Can't the police see that most legitimate parking spaces have been encroached upon? Huge ductile iron (DI) pipes for some drainage project occupy over half the parking space for four-wheelers in front of Bhartiya Nritya Kala Mandir along Fraser Road. With the whole place literally encroached upon, can the police show me where I could park my vehicle? They are just towing away vehicles without caring to rid the parking lot of encroachments," said Rajat Kumar Singh, who works at an office on Fraser Road.

Asked about the pipes dumped along Fraser Road and S.P. Verma Road, the SP was stumped. "I do not have any knowledge about the pipes being dumped at parking spaces. If it is so, I will write to the agency concerned to remove them immediately. But wrongly-parked vehicles do cause major traffic hassles on Patna's roads and this drive will go on," the SP said.

The pipes are dumped on the road because of a drainage project being undertaken by Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (BUIDCo) to solve the waterlogging problem on S.P Verma Road. "The project involves laying of pipes from S.P Verma Road to Mandiri drain and the work is set for completion by January. The pipes are very heavy and cannot be kept far away from the project site, but we try and ensure little time is wasted to arrange the pipes after they arrive. We are aware it is causing problems to residents, but we are trying our level best to minimise it," said Daya Shankar Mishra, general manager (works) with BUIDCo.

Residents are not happy at the turn of events. They said there was a lack of coordination between government departments and agencies. "They (police) are imposing fines on people but are not aware about these pipes that are encroaching on parking lots. This shows the lack of coordination," Samir Kumar, another four-wheeler owner, said.

While the police are busy imposing fines or toying away wrongly parked vehicles, state government agencies have not been able to start the multi-level parking facility at Buddha Smriti Park, ready for over a year.

Also, there are many parking points on Boring Road, the area in front of Biscomaun Bhavan, that have been encroached upon by make-shift stalls despite the administration's attempts to evict them time and again.

"The multi-level parking facility, which can hold up to 480 vehicles at one go, is expected to start functioning within a fortnight, we expect. BUIDCo has started work on the road that leads to the parking lot and we expect the facility to begin soon," the SP said.

Abhinav Kumar, a resident who is manager of a nationalised bank in Ara, said paid parking was a good option. "Why wouldn't we pay if the city develops a paid parking facility in Patna? No one wants their vehicles to get towed away for any reason whatsoever. If there are paid parking facilities in Patna, I would be happy to pay and use them," Abhinav said.

The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) already has a plan to develop paid parking facility at 59 points across the city and the spots have been earmarked. However the process has got delayed because of bottlenecks related to tenders, sources said. Also, the multi-level parking facility at Buddha Smriti Park will be a paid facility once it starts.