Bhubaneswar, Sept. 4: Police would deploy traffic personnel at major intersections to ensure that autorickshaws do not pick passengers arbitrarily from the middle the road.
This will help reduce snarls in the city, said a police officer.
On August 13, the police had notified 20 places in the city as no-parking zones.
They had also restricted parking of vehicles within 30-metre from the centre of the road.
The no-parking zones are Behera Sahi Square, Kalpana Square, Museum Square, Jayadev Vihar Square, Xavier Square, Nalco Square, Patia Square, Vani Vihar Square, Rupali Square, IDBI Square, Sriya Square, Rajmahal Square, Sishu Bhavan Square, New Airport Square, Capital Hospital Square, AG Square, PMG Square, Housing Board Square, Nicco Park Square and Acharya Vihar Square. According to the notification, offenders are liable to pay fine, which may extend to Rs 500.
"We would ensure that traffic chaos does not occur at the busy intersections. We will enforce the notification stringently," said assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Jatindra Kumar Panda.
However, autorickshaw operators urged the police to identify parking zones for autorickshaws before enforcing the notification.
"Though the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation have promised to provide 18 parking lots in the city, it has done nothing. In the absence of adequate space, we can do very little," said general secretary of the Bhubaneswar Autorickshaw Mahasangha Padman Kumar Samal.
Commuters, however, are happy with the decision. They welcomed it and are of the view that the initiative would be extremely helpful in tackling traffic chaos.
"Most autorickshaw drivers pick up passengers from the middle of a road without bothering about other vehicles plying on the road. Besides, during peak hours they tend to park their three-wheelers at major traffic intersections creating difficulty for commuters as well as pedestrians," said Abhaya Moharana, a resident.
More than 20,000 autorickshaws ply in the city, ferrying around one lakh passengers on a daily basis.
