AIZAWL: The Gauhati High Court has directed the Chief Secretary to the Government of Mizoram to constitute a Committee on Traffic Management to be headed by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Mizoram.
The commitee should also include the DGP, Mizoram Police, who shall have periodical sittings, preferably once in every two months, with regard to steps to be taken to decongest traffic within Aizawl city and implementation of the same.
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The Aizawl Division Bench of Justice Michael Zothankhuma and Justice Marli Vankung further directed that the Committee should also keep in view the fact that the Transport Department has apparently made guidelines to ensure that vehicle owners should have Garage/s for their vehicles/s.
It is further directed that they should also see whether the rules/guidelines/regulations etc being applied for providing parking space for vehicles various institutions, offices, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, business premises is sufficient and/or whether a new rules/guidelines/regulation is required and also ensure that the views of the Traffic Police is taken before any area is declared a parking area by the AMC or any other authority/department.
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The Court heard a suo moto PIL pertains to the running of multi-speciality hospital along the Chanmari to Chaltlang road.
The said hospital does not have any parking space available for four wheeler vehicles.
The affidavit of the Senior SP, Traffic, Aizawl is to the effect that spot verification had been made as to whether the running of the hospital would affect traffic flow in the area and it was found that if adequate parking space was not provided inside the building, it would create traffic jams along the road.
The affidavit of the Senior SP, Traffic, Aizawl also stated that if no parking space was provided for four wheel vehicles inside the building, patients would have to alight or get into vehicles on the main road, which would greatly affect the flow of traffic creating traffic jams at regular intervals in Chanmari area in particular and Aizawl city in general.
The affidavit also states that the alighting of patients from vehicles or getting into vehicles on the main road cannot be recommended, considering the safety of patients, pedestrians and other road users as a whole.
The dropping and alighting of persons from/into vehicles, whether they be doctors, patients, staffs or visitors, would require the vehicles to stop on the road, which in turn would stop traffic.
The road in particular is very narrow with one lane of vehicles going in either direction. Two vehicles cannot move side by side in one direction on the said road , the Bench noted.
It is observed by the Court that the issue of providing parking space for four wheel vehicles cannot be confined only to the present hospital, but also to other hospitals in Aizawl city.
In fact, the provision for providing parking space for four wheel vehicles and two wheelers has to cover various buildings used for schools, offices, residential buildings, educational institutions, commercial establishments etc.
However, there does not appear to be any authority, which has both the power and the teeth to enforce guidelines/rules to ensure that parking space is made available in different buildings, to ensure that the citizens of the State have an easier time maneuvering through the various streets of the city.