Kolkata, May 14 -- State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Agnimitra Paul on Thursday announced a set of modern and stringent measures aimed at tackling illegal parking, traffic congestion and indiscriminate garbage dumping across both urban and rural Bengal.
The minister said that her department has already started issuing notices, making it clear that vehicles will now have to be parked only on the designated side of the road where authorised parking zones exist. "We will not allow any illegal parking," said Paul, acknowledging the immense inconvenience caused to commuters due to years of unauthorised illegal parking.
The minister launched a sharp attack on the alleged extortion racket operating in the name of parking fees. She alleged that during the previous regime, Trinamool Congress-linked cadres collected money using fake parking slips and very little of that revenue reached government coffers. "Every parking lot across the state will now be required to display government-approved rate charts prominently so that commuters are not forced to pay arbitrary charges," said Paul.
Paul said that his department will soon introduce geo-tagging technology to make Bengal cleaner and garbage-free. The minister announced that a new mobile application will soon be launched, through which citizens can upload photographs related to indiscriminate dumping of garbage or uncleared waste from any location.
"We will take measures to clear the same within one to two hours," said Paul.
Paul, who has also been given the charge of the Women and Child Development department, announced the launch of a dedicated helpline number for complaint of crime against women.
There is already a child helpline number which will be integrated with this new helpline number . The complaint related to child abuse and women's atrocities will be segregated, and action will be taken accordingly," she added.
Paul announced that soon a helpline number 181 will be launched for providing assistance to.women in distress. The number will be geotagged in such a manner that the nearest police station will be alerted by the call and this will ensure immediate assistance to the concerned woman.Kolkata: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Agnimitra Paul on Thursday announced a set of modern and stringent measures aimed at tackling illegal parking, traffic congestion and indiscriminate garbage dumping across both urban and rural Bengal.
The minister said that her department has already started issuing notices, making it clear that vehicles will now have to be parked only on the designated side of the road where authorised parking zones exist. "We will not allow any illegal parking," said Paul, acknowledging the immense inconvenience caused to commuters due to years of unauthorised illegal parking.
The minister launched a sharp attack on the alleged extortion racket operating in the name of parking fees. She alleged that during the previous regime, Trinamool Congress-linked cadres collected money using fake parking slips and very little of that revenue reached government coffers. "Every parking lot across the state will now be required to display government-approved rate charts prominently so that commuters are not forced to pay arbitrary charges," said Paul.
Paul said that his department will soon introduce geo-tagging technology to make Bengal cleaner and garbage-free. The minister announced that a new mobile application will soon be launched, through which citizens can upload photographs related to indiscriminate dumping of garbage or uncleared waste from any location.
"We will take measures to clear the same within one to two hours," said Paul.
Paul, who has also been given the charge of the Women and Child Development department, announced the launch of a dedicated helpline number for complaint of crime against women.
There is already a child helpline number which will be integrated with this new helpline number . The complaint related to child abuse and women's atrocities will be segregated, and action will be taken accordingly," she added.
Paul announced that soon a helpline number 181 will be launched for providing assistance to.women in distress. The number will be geotagged in such a manner that the nearest police station will be alerted by the call and this will ensure immediate assistance to the concerned woman.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.