You are most likely to get away with a parking violation in Calcutta if you park in the city police’s backyard.

“For the most blatant traffic violations in town, look no further than this area. It’s killing my business but who cares?” said the owner of a crockery shop near 32A Brabourne Road, housing the Headquarters Guard that is supposed to maintain traffic sanity in the city’s choked central business district.

From illegal double-lane parking to goods carriers waiting for consignments to be unloaded in the middle of the road, every traffic rule in the book is flouted regularly with the Headquarters Guard’s consent.

Metro found the men in uniform missing from the stretch in front of the office on Thursday and vehicles lined up from one end of the street to another.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation’s parking rules stipulate that only 35 vehicles can be parked on the stretch between the Canning Street-Brabourne Road crossing and the Tea Board office. More than 60 vehicles — four-wheelers, two-wheelers, light goods carriers and van rickshaws — were stationed on that stretch in the afternoon.

“All kinds of traffic violations occur here but we can’t do anything about it because everything seems to be happening with the police’s blessings,” said an employee of the Fee Car Parking Employees’ Co-operative Society, which runs the parking lot under a contract with the civic body.

On a busy weekday afternoon, the area is a picture of organised chaos — two parallel rows of vehicles, light goods carriers waiting for consignments to be unloaded and vehicles parked even in front of a mosque and a school (Jain Vidyalaya).

Apart from the usual regulations, parking in front of educational and religious institutions is banned.

“Double-lane parking is not allowed anywhere. Goods vehicles cannot be loaded or unloaded at any point of time on a thoroughfare,” the deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Dilip Banerjee, said.

But are the rules different for the areas under the Headquarters Guard?

“We crack the whip on illegal parking regularly. Thousands of cases are registered,” he said.

A car count on Thursday revealed at least 400 vehicles parked between the approach road to Howrah and the Tea Board tower.

Double-lane parking and encroachment by hawkers have reduced road space by more than half in parts of the business district. “This system of parking has been followed for years and our seniors are obviously not blind to it. There is very little me or my colleagues can do about it,” said a sergeant.

The Headquarters Guard covers Strand Road (from Akashvani Bhavan), Brabourne Road, Canning Street, Ezra Street, a part of Chittaranjan Avenue (till MG Road) and Netaji Subhas Road.

While the civic body awards contracts for parking lots on these stretches, the onus is on the police to ensure that the rules are followed.

“It has come to our notice that at many places cars are parked at no-parking zones in lieu of illegal parking fees. We are also aware of the problems faced by traders and pedestrians because of double-lane parking. But it is the police’s duty to launch a crackdown on violators,” said mayoral council member Faiyaz Ahmed Khan.

An employee of a parking co-operative said police personnel often forced him to make space for more cars than stipulated by the CMC.

According to an estimate by the civic body, the demand for parking space on a weekday ranges between a lakh and 1.25 lakh vehicles. The city has space for not more than 25,000 vehicles across the 42 parking lots run by co-operatives.