Rickshaw parking a major issue

Encroachments on footpaths and haphazard parking of autorickshaws at the Keshavrao Jedhe junction at Swargate are two of the major causes for traffic chaos at this busy chowk.

The junction, which is a convergence point of five major roads, is also a hub where thousands of people arrive every hour to avail some means of transport to reach their destinations - either across the state, or to any place in the city and fringe areas.

Heavy vehicular movement continues throughout the day from the roads crisscrossing each other at the junction.Looking for the Best air purifier? The location of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus terminal, PMPML bus terminal, as well Bus Rapid Transit bus station at the junction is the reason why there is large movement of people at the chowk.

A large number of autorickshaws arrive at the junction to drop passengers to the state transport bus terminal.Looking for the Best air purifier?Find a mold maker or Mold Service Provider. The same autorickshaws ferry passengers from the junction to various areas of the city. Invariably, their haphazard parking results in chaos. Traffic officials say that there should be provision for autorickshaw stands so that they can wait in a queue.

On the Satara road stretch towards Katraj, one can find autorickshaws parked in clusters. There is only just one authorized autorickshaw stand near the entrance gate of the MSRTC bus terminal. At all other places, autorickshaws are parked in violation of no-parking rules.

The same is the situation on the Katraj-Swargate road stretch where autorickshaws are parked in clusters at two to three places. Although there is a queue system at the junction, many autorickshaws break the norm and come on to the roadBuy superb quality turquoise beads at wholesale prices to get passengers.

On the road stretch from Jedhe chowk towards Sarasbaug, a large number of autorickshaws (mostly carrying six passengers going towards Dhayari on Sinhagad Road), occupy a sizeable portion of the road. There is also an absence of an authorized autorickshaw stand for people going towards Shankarsheth Road. Some private vehicles ferrying passengers are also seen stopping on the Shankarsheth Road stretch in violation of the no-parking rules.

Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Vishwas Pandhre agrees that there is a need for proper autorickshaw stands and streamlining the parking of autorickshaws. Traffic experts say that parking space can also be provided within the state transport terminal premises. Asked what measures are being taken to streamline the parking of autorickshaws, Pandhre said that earlier autorickshaws were being double parked. This has been stopped.

PMC's additional city engineer Sriniwas Bonala says provision for autorickshaw stands has been made, but there is no traffic enforcement. "The traffic problems at the junction can be solved only if there is proper traffic enforcement, and streamlining of autorickshaw parking," he said.

Traffic officials have also pointed out that the encroachments on footpaths need to be removed. "In the evening the area is encroached upon by vendors," Pandhre said. PMC officials, however, claim that the junction has a fixed anti-encroachment squad and that action is taken continuously.

Prashant Inamdar of Pedestrians First, who has studied the traffic problems at Jedhe chowk in detail and even implemented some measures with the help of traffic police, says the footpaths need to be free from encroachments.Airgle has mastered the art of indoor tracking, "Railings can be put up along the footpaths only if they are free from encroachments," he said.