The residents visiting the weekly G-6 bazaar are facing huge parking difficulty due to insufficient parking space around the bazaar, and the concerned authorities have turned a blind eye to the woes of the shoppers.
The visitors to G-6 Sunday Bazaar have to park their vehicles beside the main road that not only create traffic jams but also result into accidents at times.
Moreover, going for shopping to G-6 bazaar on motor bike is a nightmare as they have to park their bikes either on footpath or on the roads which attracts anger of the traffic police.
Lack of parking space in the G-6 residential area near the bazaar is also fast becoming an issue resulting into frequent quarrels among shoppers and owners of the houses.
Talking to APP, Sohail Ali, a motorist, said coming to bazaar for shopping on a motorbike was a nightmare, as he had to park his bike either on the footpath adjacent to residential areas or at the road, which provoked traffic police.
Another motorist named Aqib Shah said the policemen on duty did not understand that the shoppers had no option other than parking vehicles on roadsides or the footpaths.
“They treat drivers of four-wheelers humanly but their attitude towards two-wheelers is usually humiliating,” he complained. He said if there were a proper parking arrangement, no one would park vehicle at the road or in front of the houses.
Mohsin Ali, a resident of G-6, said he had stopped shopping in G-6 bazaar due to consistent problem of parking in the bazaar. “If we park cars in no parking zones, the traffic wardens impose fines on us.
It is one of the oldest weekly bazaars in the federal capital and a large number of people come here, but the problem of parking is worsening day by day,” he said. He said though CDA had spent billions of rupees on widening of roads near the bazaar yet they were paying no attention to develop some car parking area.
The motorists should cooperate with the police and the administration as parking vehicles at roads was tantamount to encroachments and could lead to traffic hazards and accidents,” police warden said.
G-6 Sunday Bazaar’s chief inspector said both the stallholders and shoppers were in trouble due to the closure of main parking and lack of space for a parking lot.
He said the bazaar should have a parking lot according to Capital Development Authority (CDA) rules, but the authority did nothing in this regard so far.
When contacted, an official of enforcement department of the CDA said that the CDA had removed encroachments from markets several times.
He said the CDA was committed to keeping pedestrian ways clean and safe for pedestrians and it was a baseless allegation that the CDA had not done any practical work.
He said the CDA had warned shopkeepers not to encroach on footpaths otherwise they would be fined and dealt with strictly according to the law.
