Kathmandu, October 16

If you park a four-wheeler in a no-parking zone for a long time, you might risk getting a traffic violation ticket.

Traffic police have been awarding TVT to vehicles parked in restricted areas, including busy roads, and drivers not seen around.

According to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, enforcement of TVT is part of its initiatives to discourage wilful parking and ensure smooth vehicular movement in Kathmandu Valley which is a home to around 700,000 vehicles.

Lack of adequate parking spaces coupled with rampant no-parking zone violation and double-parking usually lead to traffic jams. Such trend results in narrowing of the roads.

The Office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City backed by traffic police carries away motorcycles and scooters parked in no-parking zones on its patrolling trucks and release them after the owners pay a fine of Rs 1,000 each.

However, traffic police do not have enough cranes to adopt the same strategy in the case of four-wheelers violating no-parking rules and have been issuing TVT, said the MTPD. On-duty traffic police will paste the TVT sticker on the windscreen in front of the driver’s seat.

It reads, “This has been issued as you have violated traffic rules. Pay a fine of Rs 1,000 to the MTPD or the nearest traffic police office within 24 hours”.

If the driver or vehicle owner ignores it and does not contact traffic officials within 24 hours, traffic officials will coordinate with the Office of Transport Management, collect details of the offender and detain the vehicle.

A TVT ticket is a notice issued by traffic police to a motorist, accusing violation of no-parking rules. “The MTPD took this measure to discourage illegal parking and minimise traffic congestion,” said DSP Rajendra Prasad Bhatta. Traffic police are more active in issuing TVT during peak hours.

The authorities have designated only 100 parking zones with capacity of around 1,500 vehicles in the Valley. According to KMC, it is planning to build parking lots at Tundikhel, Lainchaur, Tinkune and Dharmapath of New Road in a bid to reduce traffic congestion in the capital.

A budget of Rs 3 billion has been allocated for the construction of an underground parking lot at Lainchaur, Rs 4 billion for the parking lot at Tundikhel , and Rs 1 billion for the Tinkune parking lot.

However, the cost estimate and design of the multi-storey building at Dharmapath has yet to be prepared.