Bhubaneswar, Sept. 5: Parking of vehicles at unauthorised lots across the city is a menace that refuses to disappear. People often ignore 'no parking' signs and create chaos on streets.

Such violations have worsened traffic situation on arterial roads such as Janpath, Bidyut Marg and Sachivalaya Marg. At all these places the city administration has put up 'no parking' signs, but no one bothers.

The reason for the current situation is non-compliance and non-implementation of the civic body's ambitious Bhubaneswar Parking Regulations, which was drafted in 2015 and enacted the same year. However, due to bad planning and the absence of a proper enforcement system, the rules are far from being implemented on the ground.

The regulations require the municipal corporation to constitute a city parking management committee and slap fines up to Rs 500 on violators. The fine amount is supposed to be paid within 28 days, failing which the violator may be prosecuted under the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003.

The brunt of such violations is borne especially by pedestrians and cyclists because with people parking their vehicles on pavements and cycle-tracks, they hardly have space to use.

'I often find it difficult to walk on the pavements of Bidyut Marg because of vehicles, especially two-wheelers, parked there. Besides, many motorcyclists use the cycle tracks to avoid the congestion on the road, which, again, is caused by the parking of the vehicles on the sides of the road. The roads are for vehicles and pavements for pedestrians. Pavements and cycle paths cannot be used for parking,' said Damana resident Biswa Mohan Jena.

There are several signage installed on Janpath that disallows vending and parking on a stretch.

Here again, the administration is unable to enforce the ban it in its entirety. They have ensured there is no vending but failed to stop people from parking their vehicles right under the signage.

A senior civic body official said due to shortage of manpower, they had been unable to enforce the parking regulations in the city.

'We need a special enforcement squad to look into such violations, but we don't have people who could be assigned the job. Once we have the people to form a team, we will be able to implement the regulation in spirit,' said the official.

Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, however, said the parking regulations were in place and were being implemented.

'Besides checking on such parking violations, our officials are also working to check fake parking operators and other such things, which are also the part of the city's parking regulations. We are penalising such people and will definitely intensify our drive gradually,' said Jena.

Bidyadhar Meher, who has a shop at Kharavela Nagar on the Janpath, said that many people came and parked their four-wheelers on the side of the road near Shriya Square, which make the street congested and movement tiresome for commuters.

He said: 'There should be a proper mechanism to check such violations.'