CHAKKA JAM AT LBS MARG! RTO FIRM!!!
Last week, RTO had unleashed a massive crackdown against vehicles parked illegally from Sonapur Junction to Pannalal Compound on the busy LBS Marg. RTO had forcibly removed as many 100 vehicles and penalized each errant owner. While Mumbaikars have applauded RTO for its courageous action, the errant owners of tempos and trucks are irked at RTO’s stringent action.
On Saturday, the aggravated tempo and truck owners organised a ‘Chakka Jam’, a bitter protest against the RTO. The agitators blocked the LBS Road by randomly parking their vehicles in the middle of the Sonapur signal chowk, thus disrupting traffic on both sides of the road. As a result, there was a huge traffic jam. Vehicles coming from Powai to Thane stood in the long queue. Likewise, traffic on the Goregaon- Mulund Link road was badly hit. Since the protestors launched the agitation without notice, both the traffic and the commuters were taken by surprise. There was utter panic and commotion and the situation turned chaotic for over one hour. It caused great hardship to motorists and the RTO alike.
The situation turned violent after some unidentified persons started pelting stones on the vehicles parked in the middle of the road. Due to this, the windshield of a vehicle was damaged. This made the agitators more aggressive but, thanks go to the Traffic Police who brilliantly handled the vicious situation and brought the agitation under control.
Kudos to the Traffic police which removed all the vehicles parked in the middle of the road using towing vans. The vehicles were brought to the side of the road and all the errant owners of these vehicles were penalized. Though the protestors had assembled in large numbers and tried to bully the Traffic Police, the brave and determined Traffic Police did not budge but tackled the agitators sensibly and prevented the agitation turning violent.
However, tired office-goers and people commuting on the LBS Marg had a hard time. The traffic jam situation on LBS Marg lasted till late night. Mulund PI (RTO) Sharad Ovhal told Home Times, “It was an arduous and challenging task to tackle the agitators, but I am happy our team did a fantastic job. We have penalized 25 errant vehicles owners.” He added, “We are not going to be pressurized by any agitation and shall continue to conduct our crackdown on illegal parking.”
In contrast, Suresh Kopparkar, of The Greater Bombay Truck Tempo Association, told Home Times, “We are irked at the RTO because they conducted a crack-down on our tempos and trucks without any notice. In addition, the RTO is not allocating us some place to park our vehicles. The available parking zone charges us money. Hence, we are in a tight spot and were forced to conduct a protest. If RTO provides us free space to park our vehicles, we would stop such nuisance.”
