For years, the residents were complaning about the double-side parking of over 50 buses belonging to Royale Concorde International School in Kalyan Nagar. Recently, the Banaswadi police actually took action under order from the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic. A notice was issued and the vehicles were removed from the road.
The cops clicked pictures of the work well done on February 13, 2020. However, two days later, the school buses were back on the road, in clear violation of the law. The residents are livid and want a permanent solution to this recurring problem. They want the school to rent or buy a parking someplace else, if there is no space within the campus. Congesting a service road next to a flyover is inconveniencing thousands of vehicle users, and the traffic police has to take permanent action immediately.
“Does Bangalore Traffic Police only fine common people?” was the prominent refrain by most residents to the callous atittude of the cops in the last few years. However, when action was taken a few days ago, the residents breathed a sigh of relief, only to realise that the story is back to square one. Now, the residents are demanding to know how the school can be so irresponsible and adamant.
“The entire service road adjoining Outer Ring Road at Babsabpalya-Banaswadi is encroached by this school for parking their school buses,” tweeted one resident welfare group to the cops. “If ordinary citizens park their vehicles, Tiger (the traffic patrolling vehicle) tows them and levies Rs 1200 fine.”
The campaign against this school began gathering momentum since April last year. Bharath Kumar wondered if the school was paying off the traffic cops to leave them alone, so they can use the service road for both security and parking. “This is what the school teaches the kids: park vehicles wherever you want, and no one will penalise you,” said Chandu Rajanna last year.
Another resident tweeted that the school charges around Rs lakh per year as tuition and allied fees, with school van fees of Rs 20,000-30,000 extra. “With such money being amassed in the name of education, why don’t they buy or rent vacant land to park their school buses 24×7, 365 days of the year?” asks one resident. “After all, they are in the business of education, and not doing charity service for the welfare of society. Let them act responsibily first and stop this daily nuisance.”
After clearing the service road, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, East, tweeted that the illegal parking was removed and a notice was issued to the management of the school. “A letter has been written to Joint Commissioner BBMP to not allow illegal parking,” the DCP announced on Twitter. Taking note of this incident, police commissioner Bhaskar Rao has come down heavily on this development and has asked the traffic department and BBMP to not allow illegal parking anywhere in the city.
The residents now want similar encroachments of footpaths on the main roads of KG Halli and Banaswadi by various establishments. “Do our cops exclusively tow vehicles of ordinary citizens? They don’t have the bandwidth to clear wholesale, bulk violators? Do these bulk violators belong to the privileged class and the traffic rule book does not apply to them?” asks one livid resident.
If you have issues in your side of the neighbourhood in Bangalore, you can tweet your complaint to the Bangalore Traffic Police or use ‘The Public Eye’ phone app to report violations or contact the respective officers here by email or phone.
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