Two-wheelers parked illegally near Unit I daily market in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 16: The mushrooming of illegal parking lots in the city has become a cause of concern for the police and common people.

Local goons, as well as anti-socials, allegedly manage most of these parking lots. They not only fight among themselves over sharing collections made from these parking lots, but also harass those who park their vehicles.

Yesterday, a 32-year-old youth, Santu Ghose, was stabbed to death in full public view at the busy Big Bazar area in Kharavela Nagar following a dispute over the sharing of earnings made from an illegal parking lot managed by him and the accused Chitta Ranjan Dash.

Small-time traders around the shopping mall alleged that the Ghose and Dash had always been quarrelling over sharing money made from the parking lot.

“They were always found in inebriated state and fighting. Though the matter had gone to the police several times in the past, the parking lot flourished. They were even creating problems for us as they harassed customers. Moreover, they used to park their vehicles here,” said a trader. The police even admitted that several cases had been registered against the duo.

Most of the illegal parking lots are in front of Exhibition Ground. “Local goons collect money at these unauthorised parking lots and harass people who do not park their vehicles there. At times, rival parking lot owners fight among themselves,” said Rabi Singh, a resident of Unit III area. He narrated how he had to suffer when two rival groups managing as many parking lots in front of the Exhibition Ground fought between themselves as they aggressively tried to draw customers.

In another development, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Commission (BMC) authorities said they were not aware of any such illegal parking lots in the city. Sources said the BMC had earmarked 13 parking lots in the city, out of which, 10 were managed by persons through auction.

However, according to police sources, there were several unauthorised parking lots in the city where the practice of illegally collecting money from people had been going on in full swing. “As the BMC have not marked these places as ‘no parking zones’, people are forced to park their vehicles outside the limited parking lots provided by the civic body as well as the shopping mall authorities. So, we cannot take action against unauthorised parking lots unless we get complaints,” said a police officer.

The BMC officials said they had earmarked several ‘no parking zones’ at various places and it was the duty of the police to take action against those parking vehicles in these areas. “We are going to carry out a survey on illegal parking lots in the city and, with police help, we will take action against the offenders,” said BMC deputy commissioner Priyadarshi Mohapatra.