Pune: If you have parked your vehicle wrongly, you will be charged Rs 50 per hour for the violation. Yes, this is the new rule being brought into effect by the traffic department as such parking is leading to traffic problems.

Recently, the court issued an order against a person in Pune Cantonment who was charged a fine of Rs 3,000 under the Motor Vehicle Act. He had parked his car on the Poona College Road. As per the police statements, the car parking was obstructing the traffic movements.

Authorities stated that past few days, there has been increasing instances of vehicles being parked wrongly on the roads. It left us no chance but to impose this new rule against such parking. Now they will be paying Rs 50 per hour if they park their car incorrectly.

The traffic officials further added that there are numerous vehicles in Pune, and the number is about to cross the 26 Lakhs mark. The Regional Transport Office has revealed that since previous year, there is a substantial increase in vehicles, which is over 2.86 Lakhs. Especially two wheelers, as they solely have crossed the figure of over 2 Lakhs. This is leading to traffic jam, leaving less space on roads.

The authorities also discussed about the parking space needed for these vehicles. They said that as per the norms for parking, a two wheeler needs a 2 sq m area, whereas a four wheeler needs 12.5 sq m area. On the other hand, heavy vehicles like trucks or tempos or other such vehicles need 28.125 sq m area. If we consider all these numbers, then we are short of traffic space then. An additional 365.12 acres of parking space is needed for parking.

Parking your vehicles on roads reduces the width of road leading to traffic jam. The traffic branch has mentioned strictly that all public roads should be used only for traffic movements and not for parking. Those areas where building constructions came up before implementation of parking rules can be considered as exceptional cases, the authorities added.

Anuja Bagaitkar