A journalist associated with The News became the first victim of the fallout of making I.I Chundrigar Road “parking-free” when his brand-new car was stolen on Monday night. He was compelled to park his vehicle far away from his office given the new rules.

Although no traffic jam was witnessed on I.I Chundrigar Road on Monday and Tuesday after the city traffic police, on the directives of the new Inspector General Police (Sindh) Dr Shoaib Suddle, declared the road parking-free, people were forced to park their vehicles either on pavements or at a long distance from their offices.

Police sources revealed that the move to declare one of the city’s main arteries parking-free was taken following threats to the new IGP Sindh and to provide him a safe passage, but at the cost of extreme nuisance to the people whose workplaces and businesses are located on I.I Chundrigar Road.

The News staffer Ali Akbar Khawar said that he used to park his vehicle near his office in the adjoining street on I.I Chundrigar Road. However, on Monday, the first day that parking was banned on the street, owing to a rush of vehicles on his usual parking spot, he was compelled to park his Suzuki Mehran (APM-168) car on a street away from his office building.

“At around 11.30 p.m., I went to the parking spot to get back home, but, surprisingly, my vehicle was gone. Initially, I thought of the traffic police, but later the my tracker company informed me that my vehicle had been stolen and they lost trace of the vehicle near Jail Chowrangi,” he informed.

Interestingly, DIG Traffic Police Wajid Durrani had cited security as one of the reasons for declaring I.I Chundrigar Road parking-free. However, there seems to be no security in adjoining areas that will obviously see an influx of vehicles looking to park.

Morever, right after the IGP Sindh Dr Shoaib Suddle left his office in Central Police Office on I.I Chundrigar Road, the traffic police personnel were found relaxed and scores of vehicles were seen parked along I.I Chundrigar Road after 7.00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Many people have bitterly criticised the DIG Traffic for his remarks that “identifying alternative parking arrangements is not our headache and motorists should park their vehicles on adjoining lanes and streets”, saying how could an important official suggest such an “inane” solution to this serious problem.

“Of course, every building must have its own parking area but since there is no such facility available owing to the negligence of concerned city authorities, why are motorists being punished for others’ sins and the security of a top police official,” an office worker said.

On the other hand, people who don’t have their own vehicles and use public transport are also suffering, as public transport is not allowed to use the thoroughfare.

“Authorities are only concerned about the problems of a few individuals but they don’t care for common people. I demand that the government make I.I Chundrigar Road vehicle-free and introduce tram or shuttle service for everybody including senior police officers, bankers and other influential people who have the workplaces on the main road,” an office boy said.