Bhubaneswar, May 6: The traffic police have launched a drive to clear vehicles parked on busy roads here after facing a lot of flak from the public for their inability to handle chaos and congestion.

In the last two days, over 200 vehicle owners and roadside vendors have been fined for creating traffic mess at Big Bazar Square and from the Ram Mandir to Rajmahal Square stretch on Janpath.

A police officer said similar drives would be carried out on Janpath from Rajmahal Square to Sishu Bhavan Square and on the roads connecting AG Square and Rajmahal Square near market building and Unit-I market.

Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Binod Das said vehicles parked on both sides of the road were to be blamed for traffic chaos. He said that though the extreme left lanes on both sides of Janpath had been earmarked for parking, people flout the rules.

“The wrongly parked vehicles often block the road, creating congestion. Moreover, autorickshaws and buses halt anywhere to pick and drop passengers,” said Das.

On Saturday, a team of traffic police conducted raids in front of Big Bazar Square and collected fines totalling to Rs 23,000 apart from towing away at least 18 four-wheelers.

“Illegal parking and encroachment by roadside vendors cause traffic jams here. Though we have put ‘No Parking’ signboards at many places, people still park their vehicles there,” said inspector in charge of traffic police station Ranjan Mallick.

On Sunday, a police team with two cranes conducted raids on Janpath and fined 42 four-wheeler and 108 two-wheeler owners, collecting Rs 34,000 as fine. Seeing the police officials on the job, many persons were seen hurriedly removing their vehicles from the road.

A police official said that as a lot of business establishments are located on one side of Janpath, people tend to park their cars on that side. “But, they should park their cars only on the extreme left lane on the other side of the road and cross the road to go to the shops,” he said.

Though the police conducted the raids to make the traffic flow normal on Janpath, local people alleged that these enforcement tactics were just eyewashes. “Traffic chaos is a regular event here. During the evenings it becomes a nightmare. The drive has to be carried out for a longer period to produce some effect,” said Prakash Pradhan, a student residing at Kharavela Nagar.

A local resident said officials of the civic and development authorities had been granting licences to shops without providing them basic facilities such as parking lots. “We demand parking lots both for us and our customers,” said Ramakrushna Sahu, a trader.