To decongest Panaji roads, govt bans taxis in city’s general parking lots

Panaji: In a move that may bring relief to residents of Panaji and visitors, state govt on Tuesday banned taxis from parking in the city’s general parking lots.

North Goa collector Ankit Yadav issued a notification to this effect on the recommendation of the DySP (traffic), that Panaji, being the capital, sees a heavy influx of vehicles throughout the day. In the absence of an adequate number of off-street parking facilities, many vehicles are being parked along the roadside, thereby reducing carriageway.

TOI was first to report about the ban on taxi parking in Panaji. Tourist taxis will only be parked in their notified parking areas.

The notification states that while collecting/dropping customers, tourist taxis shall not halt for more than three minutes. Yadav authorised the erection of traffic signboards in order to caution/regulate motor vehicular traffic. The DySP (traffic cell) shall make necessary arrangements to erect the signboards at the places indicated, and report compliance, it states.Yadav held a meeting with representatives of Goa police’s traffic cell, RTO, and the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), to discuss the proposal sent by the traffic cell. The CCP representative supported the proposal to ban taxi parking in the city.

Traffic police said that as per rules, taxis cannot park and occupy parking space and wait for customers like they do outside hotels. Traffic police however that if a taxi comes from another place with customers and they go out to shop, the taxi can park for some time.

Traffic police also said that jams are witnessed on most busy roads of Panaji, with double parking adding to the chaos. “With no proper signboards, most of the time, vehicles enter no-entry zones. The signboards were also removed during the smart city work and are still not erected in most places,” police said.


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