Anush Pandith

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jun 18: This beach city which was once considered to be blessed with one of the most delightful weathers for people from all over the country has nowadays been sadly earning the dubious reputation of being the most polluted city which is densely populated with people and vehicles. About two decades back, the city was not like the one we see today.

There was a time when the city was dotted with paddy fields where farmers grew crops. Trees abounded the length and breadth of the roads and inside the compounds of independent houses unlike the multi-storied buildings we witness now. The farmers used to sell seasonal seeds and fruits they obtained from these trees.

The city has now emerged as an educational and medical facilities hub. Engineering and information technology have proliferated by leaps and bounds.

With the exponential growth of the city that was not well planned, the city weather is polluted round the clock because of a large number of vehicles which emit smoke all the time. With the increase in population, there has been even more increase of vehicles. The vehicle drivers are not disciplined, and they park their vehicles at will without taking care not to disturb the others and cause inconvenience to other vehicles using the roads. There are no designated parking spaces in most of the roads. Even some shopping malls do not have adequate space for parking customers’ vehicles. The vehicle drivers are made to suffer sometimes because of the fault which is not entirely theirs, when the police tow away their vehicles. The towing agency charges Rs 750 for two-wheelers and Rs 1,500 for four-wheelers. The people using vehicles many a time are at a loss to find a suitable parking space as many shops which have mushroomed have extended their business areas till the edge of the roads, thus eating up the parking spaces. In many cases, the roadside is not wide enough for parking of vehicles and the pedestrians have no footpaths.

The city corporation here accords permission for constructing multi-storied buildings. Once the permission is given, the authorities seem to be least bothered to check whether the builder follows rules. In case of a number of buildings, spots earmarked for parking are given to run shops on rent both in the ground floor and basement. The interesting point here is who is to take the blame for the shortage of parking space. Are the police who tow away the vehicles are to be held responsible, or the people who park their vehicles at will wherever they want? Does the city corporation and other other authorities who grant permission to construct malls and other buildings have no responsibility to see that construction is done as per the licence terms and rules are followed as per conditions?

A few days back, a woman came to Balmatta area of the city. Instead of car, she came by her scooty and parked it there for a short period. By the time she came back ten minutes later, the police had towed away her vehicle. When she came back to the spot where she had left her two-wheeler, she was shocked not to find it there. She thought it had gone missing. She wanted to register a missing complaint with the police but was informed by a person nearby that her vehicle had been towed away. She was not aware what to do and where to find her vehicle. She then came to know that her vehicle was at the Pumpwell outpost. By then she had visited two to three police stations, in an effort to track her vehicle.

There is no procedure in place by which the people come to know what happened to their vehicle and from where they can retrieve it.

In another similar incident, a doctor passing by saw that an accident had taken place. He parked his car and took the patient to hospital. By the time he returned, his car had been towed away. As there is problem of parking space, and available spaces have not been earmarked, and there are no clear-cut guidelines about where vehicles can be parked, the city corporation here along with the police and members of the general public should come together and find a solution to this problem. If the parking problem and habits of drivers are addressed, the city can turn into a place that is free from traffic snarls, beautiful, and healthy.