These car dealers are stealing your space

Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010




Lajpat Nagar resident Raghav Rai makes it a point to leave home for work with ample time in hand. Not an unusual practice for a Delhiite, but Rai has to be extra careful as it takes him 20 minutes to just get out of his house. With the pavement in front of his house blocked by cars, Rai has to manoeuvre is way out of a maze of vehicles. He does not even get space to park his own car and has to walk a distance to get to his vehicle.

Rai is not alone in his suffering. Walk down any south Delhi locality and the congestion and resultant space constraint are difficult to miss. In areas like Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, CR Park and Greater Kailash-III , pavements and roads are choked with cars, leaving little or no space to walk. But what many may not know is that most these cars do not belong to the residents. They belong to second-hand car dealers who encroach upon public land with impunity, while agencies concerned turn a blind eye. On an average, each dealer parks 10 to 15 cars on public land.

'' It takes me 15-20 minutes everyday to get out of my own house because of these secondhand cars. The dealers park their cars on pavements , roads and even authorised parking lots," said Rai.

Delhi HC had recently threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against the traffic police and civic agencies for failing to take action against car dealers and automobile workshops on both sides of Defence Colony flyover. That the threat had little impact was evident when this correspondent recently visited the market below Defence Colony flyover and found second-hand cars parked still there. The dealers , however, claimed that they were in the process of removing the cars elsewhere. '' We are moving our cars to a parking space behind our showroom in Lajpat Nagar," said an employee of Kar Links, which deals in sale and purchase of second-hand cars.

Two other second-hand car dealers in the market, however, claimed they were allowed to park two to three cars in the DDA parking lot as they own shops nearby. '' Every shopkeeper is allowed to park at least two to three personal vehicles in the DDA parking lot. But certain members of the market association have a problem with even that. They moved court over this issue,'' said Dheeraj Manchanda , owner of Ganpati Motors.

General secretary of the Flyover Complex Welfare Association, Defence Colony, said they recently shot off letters — TOI has a copy — to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Police, urging them to take steps to stop the blatant encroachment of space by car dealers, but action wasn't taken. '' The cars are parked on roadside and pavements. Forget parking our cars, we can't even walk. The dealers in Lajpat Nagar have started using the authorised parking lot which leads to traffic jams,'' said Harvinder Singh, general secretary of the association. Gaurav Malik, owner of Om Sai Motors in CR Park, said he parks his cars on the pavements with permission from the residents. '' We don't have any other space to park our cars. There is a mutual understanding with my neighbours and they don't mind us using pavements and roads to park cars,'' said Malik.

MCD said action against encroachments is taken regularly, but the dealers keep coming back. An MCD official said: "Removing these cars is not our job alone. The traffic police is equally responsible. In the case of Defence Colony, the matter is sub-judice and we would not like to comment.'' But a traffic police officer said vehicles are challaned and even towed away from pavements from time to time.

CAR BIZARRE

Each dealer parks 10 to 15 cars on the pavement and service lanes This not only inconveniences the residents but adds to traffic congestion Areas most affected | Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, Karol Bagh, CR Park, GK-II , Saket, Shakarpur, Tilak Nagar The high court had recently expressed anger as the authorities have consistently failed to take any action against dealers and workshops encroaching on public space, footpaths and roads

Original news source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/-These-car-dealers-are-stealing-your-space/articleshow/7012869.cms#ixzz16kF66Gr7