Editorial
Initiative to stop illegal parking
First create adequate parking lots
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has initiated a new move in the city to use wheel clamps for locking illegally parked vehicles so that those can be towed away. This is understandably to discourage people from parking their vehicles just about anywhere. But it can create more problem than solve in terms of enforcement. Even this could lead to compounding traffic jam. Besides, more importantly, it is going to be fringe-touching as it does not the root causes of illegal parking.
The main problem is acute dearth of parking space. High-rise buildings, shopping malls, business and academic institutions, government and non-government organisations mostly have inadequate parking spaces, which is why cars spill out on to the streets. Moreover, unscheduled stoppages of public buses at undesignated places often create traffic snarls.
A few months ago, an initiative was taken to recover parking spaces lost to shops and other business outfits. Since it was a half-hearted move it ended in a fiasco. In this case too, we'd urge the DCC and Rajuk to address the real problems and exercise their authority in making sure that all buildings allot adequate parking space in the first place.
We have long been suggesting that the city be divided into zones to have clusters of high-rise parking lots in each zone. We also feel that private sector should be encouraged to bankroll the projects and turn them into commercial enterprises. It is only after we have adequate parking spaces that we can move to apply traffic rules with a new vigour. This is not to say though, that delinquent vehicle operators should escape the long arm of law.
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