URBAN WOES:-
GANGTOK, 24 Sept: No Parking signs and marked Traffic Stops in-and-around Gangtok have been temperamentally inconsistent to the needs of the commuters, playing more to the whims of officials and demands of cabbies. And in the latest instance, this has been proven with the removal of the ‘stop and go’ taxi stop below the Tourism office [opposite Police HQ and a few metres ahead of Titanic Park stop] for downhill moving vehicles. The Titanic Park stop is for taxis to pick up fares, and the stop and go stop was for vehicles to drop off passengers. This latter stop has been declared a no-parking zone, much to the inconvenience of passengers.
It has been almost a month since the stop was turned into a no parking area by the traffic police supposedly due to the inconvenience it caused to vehicles coming from or headed for the Police Headquarters. Minor traffic hiccups and heavy honking in the said area near Tourism Department’s gate could also be the reasons behind the stop being lifted. No cop will after all admit that the lay commuters were being inconvenienced on their behalf.
Whatever the actual reason, what it has imposed is that unlike earlier when passengers could get off just next to town, they have to now disembark either at Hospital Dara or further down at the stop near Hotel Orchid, opposite Sher-e-Punjab.
Giving the blistering vehemence with which the days tend to heat up nowadays, share-cab preferring town-bound commuters are not too pleased.
“I agree that the people can walk town even from Hospital Dara, but why change something that was so convenient for everyone. There are many people who are facing problems now,” one such passenger shared.
The authorities keep changing the rules and keep drivers and commuters confused, complained an office-going lady who lives in Baluakhani and used to get off at the stop every day until it declared a no parking zone.
It has been almost a month since the stop was turned into a no parking area by the traffic police supposedly due to the inconvenience it caused to vehicles coming from or headed for the Police Headquarters. Minor traffic hiccups and heavy honking in the said area near Tourism Department’s gate could also be the reasons behind the stop being lifted. No cop will after all admit that the lay commuters were being inconvenienced on their behalf.
Whatever the actual reason, what it has imposed is that unlike earlier when passengers could get off just next to town, they have to now disembark either at Hospital Dara or further down at the stop near Hotel Orchid, opposite Sher-e-Punjab.
Giving the blistering vehemence with which the days tend to heat up nowadays, share-cab preferring town-bound commuters are not too pleased.
“I agree that the people can walk town even from Hospital Dara, but why change something that was so convenient for everyone. There are many people who are facing problems now,” one such passenger shared.
The authorities keep changing the rules and keep drivers and commuters confused, complained an office-going lady who lives in Baluakhani and used to get off at the stop every day until it declared a no parking zone.
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