Kerala - Kochi

Illegal lorry parking takes its toll on port premises

KOCHI: Haphazard parking by container lorries inside the Cochin Port Trust premises has claimed the lives of around a dozen people during the past seven years, forcing the port management to clamp down on illegal parking.

The latest incident was a fortnight ago, when a bike rider rammed into a container lorry that swerved to the road from the side without any signal, resulting in his death. Most of the lorries parked in Wellingdon Island do not have reflectors and parking lights to warn motorists of their presence during the night. “Port unions have for long been complaining of the accidents caused by illegal parking. Worse still, workers very often abandon the lorry on the road and remain untraced for hours,” said the Port Chairman N. Ramachandran. With the port banning parking of lorries on its roads, the lorry owners’ unions went on an indefinite strike six days ago, bringing the operations at the port to a standstill. They called off the strike on Monday night. The lorry owners took exception to the collection of Rs 10 and Rs 15 per hour for lorries and bigger trailers respectively in the new parking yard identified near Vathuruthy. The yard was built in consultation with all port users and private security guards have been posted to ensure the safety of parked lorries. This is because there were frequent reports of theft from the lorries parked on the road side. The yard has rest rooms for the workers, toilets, canteen and even a facility to repair the lorries. Mr Ramachandran said that the parking curbs were imposed by also taking into account the possible security threat to the port because of unidentifiable lorries being parked for long durations. Apart from the roads that leads to the port office, the lorries were parked haphazardly even in front of the Ernakulam and Mattancherry wharfs, often holding up vehicular traffic.

“We cannot permit rule of the jungle on port premises. At Monday’s talks, we offered the lorry owners additional incentives like eight hours’ free parking and an alternative parking area,” Mr Ramachandran said. A whole lot of reasons, including delays by customs house agents are said to be delaying the loading and unloading of lorries, which can easily be carried out within two hours. Till recently, the lorries were parked for hours on the roads, despite the wharfs and container terminals having ample space earmarked for parking lorries that await their turn.

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