Charminar holds the dubious distinction of having the highest number of parking violations in the city as recorded in the past three years. The traffic police recorded 4,365 cases of parking violations here that is almost double the number of cases booked in other parts of the city.
Over the last decade or so, the number of vehicles in this area has gone up by four-fold more so after Charminar and Chowmahalla Palace were thrown open to the public. Traffic cops estimate that a staggering four lakh vehicles now move past Charminar on a daily basis. However, the civic body has not come up with any parking space for the rising number of vehicles. Visitors and locals remark that they consider themselves lucky if they find a space to park vehicles here.
Areas such as Begumpet have recorded 2,967 such violations in the past three years, largely because it has adequate parking amenities and Charminar has next to nil.
Apart from the SYJ complex at Pathergatti and Nizamia General Hospital close to Charminar, there are no parking areas here. Residents complain that they go through a nightmare crossing the entire stretch of Madina-Pathergatti-Charminar wading through the maze of vehicles. Thousands of hawkers compound the congestion. “The autorickshaw menace goes on unchecked. The unruly auto drivers block the roads leaving little space for other motorists and commuters. Traffic police is a mute spectator to the traffic indiscipline here,” says a lecturer from Hussaini Alam Degree College.
Not just parking but other traffic violations such as driving without licence and vehicles with extra projections (large loads that project from outer edges of the vehicle) are also the highest here. In fact, for two consecutive years, 2009 and 2010, Charminar had the highest number of cases booked under the Motor Vehicle Act in the entire city. However, in 2011, the top slot was taken over by Punjagutta with 5,697 cases followed by Charminar that recorded 4,890 traffic violation cases during the year.
G Laxman, inspector (traffic), Charminar, says that with buses to Charminar routed via Purani Haveli and banning of mass transport near the famous structure to cut down the pollution levels, the only mode of public transportation is the auto. Laxman says that there is no parking area earmarked for thousands of autos that drop passengers at the historic monument. Besides, he attributed the violations to narrow roads, massive inflow of vehicles and no parking space. “Under Charminar Pedestrianisation Project, parking lots were planned in Charminar bus stand, old pension payment office at Khilwat, among a few other locations close to the historic monument. Completion of CPP alone will solve the long standing problem,” says Laxman. The parking problem has cast a shadow on business, say traders. They say that being the oldest and biggest shopping areas in Hyderabad, it has not lost its sheen in recent times despite the recent competition from malls. Abid Mohiuddin, secretary, Old City Traders’ Association says that the popular market here has 20,000 stores and is a sought after tourist hub but as an irony, the state government has not taken any initiative to develop the area.
C V Anand, additional commissioner, traffic, says that the area has to be viewed from a socio-economic and historic angle. Hawkers have been living off the roads here for the last four centuries and the traffic congestion has become a way of life, he says. “We have drawn boundary lines for hawkers and booked cases on those who cross the line,” says Anand.
He agrees that the traffic police are comparatively lax in this part of the town and says that it is mainly because there is no VIP movement here. “Local traffic police sometimes collude with the hawkers and auto drivers but over the last year or so traffic discipline is being strictly enforced here,” he added
—Courtesy:TOI