Apathy of civic officials pushes visitors to face traffic nuisance due to encroachments in Gulmandi

Aurangabad, July 17:

Gulmandi, the heart of the city, is visited by thousands of people daily. Its surroundings also comprise commercial shops. Accordingly, the rush of vehicles is posing danger to pedestrians. The absence of footpaths forces the visitors to walk at their own risk. The roads passing through these commercial areas are encroached by shopkeepers, vendors, hawkers, handcarts, etc. In the past, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) removes the encroachments but is in vain as after few hours or the next day the encroachments are restored.

It may be noted that the road extended from Paithan Gate to Gulmandi will be transformed under Smart City's People for Street Challenge scheme. Accordingly, the AMC is planning to reduce traffic by banning entry of vehicles in this vicinity - Machhali Khadak, Rangar Galli, Kumbharwada, Supari Hanuman Mandir, Gulmandi, etc - as these areas are visited by a large number of citizens for shopping daily. Minor accidents of motorcycles and four-wheelers also take place in these congested lanes.

Presently, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the commercial market witness rush of visitors from 10 am to 4 pm, but before the first wave of Coronavirus, the rush was witnessed till 10 pm. Vehicle congestion is the major issue on these routes.

Footpath on paper

Every road has a footpath. Accordingly, the roads passing through the above commercial areas, also have footpaths are on paper. However, in reality, not a single footpath is visible, due to encroachment. The shopkeepers encroached the footpaths and further encroachment on road is extended by hawkers and handcarts. Hence the pedestrians had a tough time while passing through these commercial areas.

According to the additional commissioner R P Nikam said, " Considering the inconvenience of the citizens, the AMC, time and again, intermittently implement the drive to remove encroachments from Gulmandi, Rangar Galli, Kumbharwada, Aurangpura Road, Machali Khadak, etc areas. However, the drive has not been implemented owing to lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Presently, the market is closed at 4 pm. We will implement the drive to remove encroachments after the market starts functioning normally."