RailEnquiry

Traffic remained in stop-and-start mode on Monday at the Station roundabout a day after Patna divisional commissioner K.P. Ramaiah convened a high-level meeting with railway authorities, traffic police and the management of Mahavir Mandir to ease congestion in the area.Buses continued to stop at will to pick up passengers, rowdy auto drivers screeched to a halt on the middle of the road spotting prospective customers and bikers parked two-wheelers as they liked in the absence of any specified space. Makeshift stalls stood tall where they were. Madness prevailed like any other day and policemen were busy dodging the sun at a corner of Buddha Smriti Park.Three City Ride buses stood right on the middle of the road leading to the station premises around 2.30pm, bringing traffic to a standstill. Engines on, the bus conductors kept shouting for passengers at the top of their voice. Passengers in a hurry to board trains had to make their way through bumper-to-bumper vehicles.Ratnesh Kumar, who was on his way to Danapur, told The Telegraph: “I’m a taking a risk by criss-crossing through vehicles. But what else can I do? The buses are standing right on the middle of the road and I cannot see any policeman at the kiosk. The autorickshaws are adding to my woes. They move along the roundabout and stop anywhere. I have been walking from Buddha Smriti Park towards the station and it took me almost 15 minutes, as I had to stop and dodge vehicles repeatedly. The walk should have taken me less than five minutes.”A few metres away, the street leading to New Market Road was chock-a-block. Several autorickshaws were parked on the road and their drivers were calling prospective passengers.Auto drivers found nothing wrong in it. One among them said: “Kahan parking kare fir? Passengers lena hai na (Where do I park then? I have to take passengers.)”He added: “The police and the administration had said in November last year a piece of land on the opposite side of Mahavir Mandir would be cleared to make way for parking autorickshaws. But illegal shops are still there on the plot. At present, there is no specific parking spot for autos and buses along the railway station and this triggers the chaos.”Driving on the narrow Dakbungalow Road, leading towards the station, remained a nightmare. Vehicles parked at wrong places in the absence of specified parking lots shrunk the road further.“There is a huge electronics market — Chandni Market — along the road. Several people go there each day. There isn’t a single parking place along the entire stretch of the road. It is practically impossible to park vehicles 3km away and come here. Worse, the road has been reduced to a single-lane by vendors. The cops impound vehicles now and then but then where is the option to park?” asked Harinder Singh, a customer at Chandni Market.A mini crane hired by the police is towing away wrongly parked private vehicles for the past 10 days but commercial vehicles remain a roadblock.Claiming that commercial vehicles like autorickshaws and minibuses were also on their radar, a traffic police officer said: “The crane parked near the main gate of Buddha Smriti Park moves around the area frequently. It towed away two motorbikes on Monday.”