Wednesday, June 20, 2012
By Pawan Rana
Car owners in Jaipur beware - no parking on less than 30 feet roads
Case A: Mr Dharmveer (name changed) has a small house on a less than 30 feet road in Jaipur. He is well off and maintains two cars – Skoda Rapid and Mahindra Xylo.
Possible Next Step: He will have to either arrange parking for his cars, or he will have to sell cars.
Case B: Mr Vikas (name changed) also has a small house on a less than 30 feet road and he has a budding business and he wants to buy a car soon. He has finalized a Maruti Alto K10 recently after much brainstorming and even after petrol prices have increased and the high interest rates.
Possible Next Step: He cannot buy a car as he lacks sufficient parking space.
These are just two instances and there could be many more. Everybody and everything seems to be after the car industry and cars in India, it seems. After a no tax on diesel cars breather in the Union Budget, it was thought that the car industry will climb to newer heights this year. The auto industry was optimistic despite of the odds such as higher interest rates but then came the petrol price hike that forced the car makers such as Toyota, Maruti to stop petrol car production for some time.
And now, people will think twice before they enter the car showrooms in Jaipur. Reason: On the direction of the High Court, the district police have declared all roads measuring less than 30 feet wide in the city as no parking zones. Now those who wish to buy a car and have no garage or a porch to park their car and their house is on a 30-feet wide road will have to arrange for parking before they set out to select any car be it Maruti Alto or Chevrolet Beat Diesel. As per the information, all those cars parked on the less than 30-feet wide roads will be seized by the police and further action will be taken. A two month time has been given to all those car buyers who used to park their cars on the under 30 feet roads to arrange for the parking of their cars.
Where the new rule is good from the perspective that most of the colony roads are under 30 – feet wide and it is practically impossible for any other vehicle to pass from it if a car is parked on road. This also leads to petty clashed between people and increase in car thefts and results in police cases. However, residents are hoped to severely oppose the decision as they have no other alternative but to park the car on road at night. Meanwhile some residents have also started opposing the fences and mini gardens and long ramps outside the houses stretching even to the centre of the road being put up by house owners as this also decreases the space for movement on the colony roads. Notably, Jaipur development Authority has earlier directed removal of all such fenced gardens on roads.
