Kerala - Kochi   

Move to find more parking spaces

KOCHI: In another effort to solve the traffic issues in the city, the District Administration on Tuesday convened a meeting of different agencies to invite suggestions and find solutions to the problems.

“The idea is to establish a public forum, which is not restricted just to traffic issues. We are starting with the traffic problem, but will be extended to other civic issues in a couple of months,” said Dr. M. Beena, District Collector.

As a first step in solving the traffic snarls, parking areas identified by the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) at Marine Drive and Manappattiparambu would be promoted.

Efforts are being made to convert Ambedkar Stadium premises as parking space for vehicles coming to M.G. Road and also find more spaces for ‘pay-and-park’ facilities. It was also suggested that poramboke land along main roads be converted as parking spaces and also divert the traffic to lesser-used roads. More one-ways could be implemented to ease traffic snarls at main roads, it was suggested at the meeting.

A sub-committee comprising the Traffic Assistant Commissioners of Police, the Regional Transport Officer and the District Transport Officer, KSRTC, has been formed to study the existing bus routes and bus stops.

The sub-committee will submit its report within a week, which will be discussed by the Collector and the City Police Commissioner to make changes in the existing system.

It is learnt that the sub-committee is working on the possibilities of realigning bus routes, whereby long-distance buses could avoid coming into the city. This will reduce the number of buses operating along arterial roads of the city. Deputy Mayor C.K. Manisankar suggested re-routing the buses along the new roads that have been commissioned in the city on a scientific basis.

Mr. Manisankar made an introductory talk on the traffic issues faced by the city and its possible solutions. Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham; Deputy Police Commissioner T. Vikram; Assistant Commissioners of Police (Traffic) V. Divakaran and K.B. Venugopal; Senior Town Planner M.S. Jaya; RTO N.M. Sukumaran; ATO G. Jayaraj; GCDA secretary Johney Sebastian; representatives of Ernakulam Merchants’ Union and other organisations attended the meeting held at the District Collector’s camp office.

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