Traffic jams in Gurgaon? Blame it on the <i>autowallah</i>s
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Traffic jams in Gurgaon? Blame it on the autowallahs

Commuters complain that haphazard parking of auto rickshaws and cabs on service lanes and busy street intersections lead to terrible traffic snarls, especially on weekdays.

Traffic jams in Gurgaon? Blame it on the <i>autowallah</i>s Photograph used for representative purposes only

Imagine running late for a meeting and being caught in sluggish rush-hour traffic. There's nothing more annoying for an office-goer. In Gurgaon, it seems to have become a regular problem. And the culprits are mainly the autorickshaws.

Auto drivers have been seen parking indiscriminately in service lanes and at busy intersections. Unitech Business Park, Unitech Cyber Park, Vivanta By Taj, Shikshantar School, Greenwoods Plaza, Airport Apartments and Sohna Chowk bus stand are some of the places where the parking is especially haphazard.  

Sunil Atree, who works in Cyber Park, Gurgaon, said, “Arbitrary parking leads to terrible traffic snarls, especially from Huda City Centre to Subhash Chowk, and the city comes to a complete standstill.”

Netaji Subhash Marg is also badly affected with clogged traffic, especially near HSBC Bank, Raj Restaurant and the intersection of sectors 44 and 45. Here the problem is due to both illegal parking and cars that use these lanes to avoid traffic on the main road. Near Unitech Cyber Park, cabs are parked on the main road and service lanes all day. There is already a huge flow of traffic in the area. According to traffic police estimates, about 10,000 to 12,000 vehicles enter and leave the complex in a day.

Sundar Tuteja, a C Block resident of Greenwood City, sectors 45 and 46, said, “One can always see cabs parked at the Unitech Cyber Park entry and along the main road. This is the main reason why there are such bad traffic jams in front of the office complex. Since there are no traffic signals and no police personnel stationed here, the situation becomes especially chaotic in the evenings."

Despite the area near Metro stations having designated lanes for parking, auto drivers still tend to park on the roads. Even fines levied by authorities don't help.

Hawa Singh, CPRO of Gurgaon Police, told City Spidey, “We have tried to keep a check on haphazard parking, but autos are back on the road every other day. If we are to have a chaos-free area, even commuters need to cooperate. For example, despite there being a prepaid auto booth outside the Huda City Centre Metro station, commuters take autos parked on the road.”