We had a problem in our street. The street in front of our Apartment building is very narrow and if cars are parked on one side of the street, the movement of cars up and down the street becomes very difficult. Very rarely you get the chance to drive down the small distance of two hundred meters without stopping in gaps and allowing the traffic from the opposite side to pass by! But one fine morning we found that cars were parked on both sides of the street! This was the result of the government’s sudden decision to stop paid parking on roads of Bangalore. It was merry hell. Till then the attendant who collected the parking charges used to regulate the parking of vehicles on the streets, and he was able enforce a certain discipline. But now he has gone and cars were parked on both sides of the street making it almost impossible to negotiate the length of two hundred meters outside our Apartment building.
This state of affairs continued for many days and we were witness to several fisticuffs in front of our building every day. When the problem became really out of control few of us living in the Apartment approached the traffic dept and gave a written complaint and explained our woes to the head of the dept, who promised to look into the matter. Within less than a week a traffic policeman visited our building and talked to the building management. He said he could arrange to fix “No parking” signs on one side of the road and put on duty one constable to enforce the rules. The problem he said was that there is a great demand for these “No parking” sign-boards and probably he might be able to fix one near our building after 12 to 18 months.
But, there is a way if there is a will, he said! We could buy these sign boards from the supplier directly for a nominal price of Rs.1200/- each which he could supply within 24 hours, and the policeman would go out of the way and arrange to fix them near our building to stop the menace of wrong parking on our street. He suggested that we pay for 4 sign- boards so that the traffic regulation would become very strict and effective. The building Management sat together and deliberated on the subject exhaustively and came to the conclusion that we must pay for at least two sign boards to stop the traffic menace. Within 24 hours of paying the asked amount of Rs.2400/- for two boards, the policeman was seen busying himself with fixing two boards on either side of our gate, about 100 ft. apart and for the first time after several weeks the residents of our building experienced some relief from the chaotic parking of cars outside our building! But good things do not last for long, it is said. Our happiness almost came to an end after about 3 months of ecstasy!! One cold night a traffic van fitted with towing crane etc, stopped by the side of our building, three hefty policemen got down armed with pick-axe and crowbars and started digging around one of the signposts and within minutes the it was removed and put into the van. Few good Samaritans living in our building protested, but the policemen were determined and brushed aside all objections, saying that only one sign post was necessary near our building, and their boss has ordered to remove the second one to be put elsewhere. The good Samaritans could not tell them that these posts were paid for. If they did they could have been arrested and put behind the bars for corrupting the police force! One of the good Samaritans murmured “This is the case of the fence eating the plants in the garden”!! 
Posts archive for: January, 2006
