'Drive to continue to prevent jams during festive rush'

AHMEDABAD: It is shopping season as areas such as Teen Darwaja, Relief Road, Satellite and Vastrapur see a surge of visitors, adding to the regular number of vehicles on the roads. More often than not, this leads to on-road parking and in turn results in traffic blockages.
When city traffic police started taking action against errant vehicle owners for haphazard parking, it did not go down well with many.On Monday, a constable was beaten up for towing away scooter at Pakwan Crossroads.
S D Patel, ACP (traffic) for the western city parts, told TOI that the department has decided not to be lenient with people attacking policemen. "In two days, we have registered two complaints for such incidents," he said, adding that the citizens will have to follow rules to de-congest roads.
Traffic police officials have started the drive to deal with congested roads where on-road parking is a major issue. On Tuesday, Patel's team conducted drives at Thaltej and Jodhpur Crossroads.
"Parking is a complex issue and can't be solved with fines alone. We hope that the fines deter vehicle owners. What is more important is to understand that one wrongly parked vehicle attracts several more, resulting in bottlenecks. Many commercial establishments don't have parking and such spots regularly report traffic problems, something we are trying to address with regular drives," said Patel.