PESHAWAR: The traffic police served notices on owners of commercial plazas in the city on Thursday to designate their basements as car parking facility for customers.

A notice issued by the chief traffic officer, Abbas Majeed Marwat, asked owners of the commercial plazas to ensure provision of parking facility in the basements of the buildings in order to avoid traffic congestion on roads.

The notice said that under section 103 and 105 of the Police Act 2017 and sections 283 and 290 of Penal Code non-provision of car parking space to the customers was a cognizable offence. He asked the owners to allocate parking space in the basement of plazas otherwise serious legal action would be taken against them.

A statement issued by the city traffic police said that the chief traffic officer also chaired a meeting in which the traffic plan was discussed in detail. It was noted that non-availability of proper parking facility always resulted in traffic mess on the main arteries including University Road, GT Road and inner parts of the city.

The meeting decided that basements in commercial plazas supposed to be used as parking lots had been converted into godowns and other commercial activities. He directed the superintendent of police headquarters and other officials to serve notices on the owners of commercial plazas immediately.

It is worth mentioning that the district administration had also issued notices to the owners of commercial plazas on the University Road to allocate basements as car park facility, but no action was initiated in this regard. Traffic woes have increased in the city after the construction of BRT corridor, especially along the University Road, the statement said.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2021