Hyderabad: Autorickshaws are being parked in the area dema-rked for the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project (CPP) by none other than traffic police officials.
These vehicles, seized for non-payment of e-challans, drunk driving and various other offences, are chained and parked on the pavement.
Asked about this violation of the CPP plan, a traffic police official said they had no other place to keep the vehicles. “We park the seized vehicles in front of the police station as we have no place inside. The next day, we shift these vehicles to the Goshamahal stadium,” said the official.
On Tuesday afternoon, autorickshaws were found parked in the middle of the walk area.
Photographs were promptly uploaded on social media which caused a buzz. Although the area witnessed few people, tourists claimed that the autorickshaws were blocking the walkway.
Local residents claimed that autorickshaws enter from the Shailbanda side and apart from Saher-e-Batil Kaman, where the traffic police has allowed them to come in.
Cloth merchant Mohammed Shami said, “There aren’t so many visitors during the afternoon, and that is when these autorickshaws come it.”
An autorickshaw driver said they had to pay their e-challans to the traffic police and were therefore in the area. Locals argued that while even police vehicles are not permitted to park in the area, these seized vehicles are becoming a nuisance.
Mr C.P. Srinath, a bangle store owner, said, “Once this place is made vehicle-free, the government must work out a way to keep these seized vehicles. The movement of these vehicles will damage the pavement.”
