Nothing right about parking at right angles in cramped city

KOLKATA: Parking cars perpendicular to the kerb in the city is as common as potholed roads, further reducing Kolkata's already woefully inadequate road space.
Way back in 2003, Kolkata Police banned parking perpendicular to kerbs on roads just to keep the city mobile. Only parking parallel to kerbs was allowed. But now, it is back to square one.
Scarcity of road space has assumed crisis proportions in the city during peak hours.While the city struggles with 1,416.4 kilometers of road length and a mammoth 16 lakh volume of automobile population (including vehicles entering the city daily), much of its road space is occupied by parked cars often in double lines and perpendicular to the kerb.
Except for some major thoroughfares, parking perpendicular to the kerb has become the norm on most roads in the city. Hogg Street right beside the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarters is a case in point. Half the width of Hogg Street is clogged by cars parked perpendicular to the kerb. Not far from this place, just opposite Grand Hotel on Jawaharlal Nehru Road, a huge perpendicular parking lot exists.
At the busy Humayun Place, in front of New Empire Cinema hall, a row of cars is always parked perpendicular to the kerb. "Accessing New Market from any side is now a nightmarish experience. It is very difficult to cruise through Humayun Place. We heard that road parking would be done away with after the multi-level car park at Lindsay Street was opened. But nothing happened," said Saurya Seth, a New Market shop owner.
How can there be such a gross violation of the norms when chief minister Mamata Banerjee is so keen not to let the city go out of gear? Mamata repeatedly said that the city's traffic is a major cause of concern for her. She wants to ensure smooth traffic movement across the city.
Irregular and chaotic parking is a big problem for traffic. A lot of things need to be sorted out fast. We are taking a note of parking perpendicular to the kerb. They will be set right after our review is over, said a police officer.