Problem of parking

Gaikhamdim Marangmei *

Traffic condition in Imphal city :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

As like Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink, Car car everywhere not a place to park.

Haphazardly parked vehicles and extensive encroachment on roads are common sight all over Imphal Bazaar (What we call the Imphal city). On top of that inadequate parking spaces have further worsened the situation near major commercial establishments.

Due to this problem sometime a trip made by car has to account for an additional minutes in traffics looking for a parking spot.

Imphal is experiencing an exponential increase in traffic demand and the increased spending power is adding to more cars on the road. One of the many problems of parking in Bazaar is the cute shortage of pace both on and off street.

This increased the time spent searching for a parking spot and induces traffic congestion and results in parked cars spilling over to travel lanes and other impossible parking situation.

Parking the car in Nagamapal and walking down the Paona market till the International market lanes to purchase good items is not easy for a person. As the car have no spot to park in Paona Bazaar, reason is simple inadequate parking space, as it start getting occupied early and is full during the peak hours.

As a result people park their haphazardly in the roadside, forcing the traffic police to flatten the tires, or this days a new method is being used by the traffic people that is the used of wheel clampers, locking the wheel of the car.

Adding to the parking problem is the pot holes on the roadways, every year hundreds of car is brought to Manipur; as per December 2012 record of the Transport department the total number of registered vehicles including both heavy and light in the state is 2, 24,056, the number must have increased to a great fold by now, and due to the worst condition of the roads, expenditure on car maintenance has increased.

This can be attributed to one of the many reasons why the numbers of second hand car has been increasing in the last few years, also because of traffic and parking problem. When driving a new car it has to be driven carefully as it won't take much time to change your new car into a used car.

This days wherever you go and how careful you drive mishaps and minor scratches are becoming common in Imphal, the growing number of diesel auto on the road adds to the problem, though it have a positive beneficial as well.

Another major problem in our city is that lot of commercial place are coming up without parking facility.

Even some of the renounced hotels and restaurants in the city don't provide a parking space, as result customers are bound to park their cars in the roadside; and in fact you will be more worried about your cars being park in the road than the food that is being served in the restaurant.

In big metropolis and Conurbation cities we hear lot of incident that relate to parking problem, a day will come when we may be facing the same problem if the authority don't take this matter seriously.

Making certain infrastructure, clearing grounds for parking space within the city, or even the basement of Ema keithel can be open for parking. This can atleast ease some problem of parking.