Citizen Journalist
Port Blair, June 09: The menace of illegal roadside garages is making the life of residents, motorists and passengers miserable. The operators pollute environment and make open mockery of law of this land.
Neither Municipal Council nor Panchayats or the fire brand ruling political parties are able to do anything to curb the menace.
Residents passing right from Aberdeen to Sippighat either through Austinabad route or School Line route finds it tough to move due to the presence of several garages in the area.
The garages, which have literally hijacked footpaths and roads, are causing traffic congestion in the area and making it vulnerable to fatal accidents due to haphazardly parked vehicles outside these garages which also cause traffic jams.
Most of the times, mechanics repair vehicles on footpaths and even pedestrians find it difficult to move.
It is high time traffic police acts against these garages and take appropriate action. A common perception is that repairs should be carried out from a dedicated space and vehicles should not be repaired on roads as it leads to traffic snarls and can also cause accidents in case there is oil or fuel leakage.
Garages operating from roads have become a common practice in South Andaman which is snarling with traffic and there is a need to curb them. Certain areas in the nodes should be earmarked for garages. Most of the times people living in residential areas complain about garages in their buildings which is a cause of inconvenience to them. Certain changes need to be made to the law whereby garages in buildings or along roads are banned.
There will be a hue and cry when something happens but the menace will continue till these garages are given a dedicated space.
To name a few road side garages a tyre tube repair shop near Austinabad; Service Station-cum-Workshop near Ummat Public School, Austinabad; Service Station near Prothrapur Airforce Station; Dollygunj Mahakali Garage area; The stretch from Shiv Mandir, Dollygunj to Dollygunj Junction and Garage near Minnie Bay Junction.
Same is the case of road side parking, right from Dairyfarm Junction to Junglighat School parking on road sides have narrowed the road. Commutation and vehicular traffic is so congested that it takes 20-30 minutes to cross the stretch of the road. Though the Administration has provided parking facilities at ITF, Junglighat, Goalghar but no one really cares and every single person wants his car to be parked in front of his house or shop.
It is worthy to take note that the RTO does not allow registration, if you are not providing the land details on which the vehicle will be parked applicable both for commercial as well as owned used vehicles, but still you can view a long stretch of vehicles standing and parked on road side making it impossible to commutate.
