BARIPADA: The stretch from Baripada bus stand to Daragadehi Golei in front of Satyasai School in the town has become a commuters’ nightmare. Traffic snarls and mishaps are common on the stretch due to parking of heavy vehicles on both sides of the road. The situation gets worse after school hours at noon. Despite presence of traffic personnel on the spot, the road is occupied by vehicles of people who arrive to pick up their wards from the school.
A few locals had brought the matter to the notice of Mayurbhanj SP Parmar Smit Parshottamdas in September this year.A meeting of senior police officials was held in October where IG, Eastern Range Diptesh Pattnayak had asked Parmar to look into the issue. He had instructed the SP to restrict parking of vehicles on both sides of the road from October 31.
The SP had visited the spot and supervised the operation to remove heavy vehicles parked in the area. However, the enforcement was stopped after a few days and vehicles were once again seen parked on the roadside.
President of Janaki Vallabh Adarsha Committee Sukumar Ranjan Pradhan said the bus owners’ association of the town is run by an union, dominated by the ruling BJD. He alleged enforcement officials are wary of acting against the bus owners.Meanwhile, Parmar said an alternate parking spot is being constructed to accommodate buses and once it comes up, the issue will be addressed.