File picture of illegally parked vehicles at a bus bay

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 18: The city traffic police today conducted a drive to remove vehicles parked illegally in the newly constructed bus bays.

This will help check traffic jam. A team of the traffic police carried out the drive on Janpath. Owners of the vehicles were first given time to remove their four and two-wheelers. The remaining ones were towed away.

Vehicles were removed from bays near Idco tower, in front of Swosti Premium hotel near Master Canteen Square and areas regularly occupied by private vehicles, autorickshaws and rickshaws.

“The city buses can now halt at the bays instead of picking and dropping passengers on the roads at will. This will reduce traffic jam and chaos,” said assistant commissioner of police Binod Das, who led the drive.

The public works department has built around 60 bus bays in the city. The majority of them are located on Janpath, Sachivalaya Marg, Vidyut Marg and Jayadev Vihar and KIIT Road.

“We can now stop buses at the designated bays. The move will also help the passengers,” said a bus driver.

The city traffic police have started enforcing rules again after a brief lull and they have been conducting drives at various traffic junctions and fining violators.