Visitors to Abids General Post Office sans parking space in for shock

Abids: The visitors to the General Post Office (GPO), Abids, struggle to find parking space. As authorities remain nonchalant about the woes of those who seek their services, regular visitors are having to park vehicles on the roadside and are getting slapped with fines by the traffic police. Their pleas to the postal officials to provide parking facility have fallen on deaf ears.

Gatiba Vishal, a resident of Osmanshahi, Gowliguda, visits the GPO at least four to five times in a month to send registered post. But by the time he returns after transacting work at the office, he finds his vehicle has been challaned for being in 'no-parking area.'

"This has been a regular problem for years, as GPO does not have a proper area for visitor's parking. Even at the backside entry point the 'mail vehicles' do not provide any scope for parking. Even though there is parking at GHMC office, people tend to avoid it owing to the charges and the tedious effort and time taken to park their vehicles there," he said.

Most visitors have bitter experience

Most of the visitors who think that the work would be over within minutes, get struck inside the building, while the Traffic police do their work outside of GPO, by clicking the images of vehicles parked on 'no parking zones.' Regular visitors have another option, but limited. On the opposite side of the road, the building of Central office of postal department provides some respite, but not always. "I have been challaned at least three to four times in the recent months. I also complained this to the Deputy Chief Post Master and gave a written complaint to the Chief Post Master and other officials concerned.

My registered post costs around Rs 35 and I have to pay more Rs 135 as challan each time I visit. I would be expressing my grievance through video on social media such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram etc. And also be filing in the police station against the postal department," said Vishal, who is also founder president of Suraksha Yuvajana Welfare Society.

A large number of people visit GPO daily, amongst whom some of them regularly face this parking hassle, but rarely they come out in open to talk on the issue. "I had causally parked with the intention of returning within minutes. But when I returned someone informed that traffic police had already clicked the image of the bike," said one unsuspecting visitor on condition of anonymity.