Drivers fined despite lack of ‘No Parking’ signs

Kabir (pseudonym) parked his motorcycle beside a road in northern Dhaka on Thursday evening and stopped at a roadside tea stall. A traffic sergeant, Saiful, took his helmet and fined him Tk600 for parking in a “No Parking” zone, saying he could collect it only after paying the fine.

Kabir could not see any “No Parking” sign nearby. Traffic Inspector (TI) Mahbub later joined the sergeant, and Kabir had to wait at a police box for around one and a half hours before being allowed to leave.

In a similar incident on Wednesday, Mirpur resident Jiaul Haque Jillu, who went to Gulshan-2 to buy household items, failed to find a designated parking space and parked his car beside the road. Traffic police soon called a tow truck, and he had to pay Tk1,200 to get his vehicle released.

Such incidents are common in northern Dhaka, particularly in Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani and Niketan, where limited parking facilities and unclear restrictions leave drivers facing fines.

Mohammad Shahjahan Hossain, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Uttara Traffic Division, said installing “No Parking” signs was the responsibility of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), not the police.

“We are responsible for enforcing traffic laws, while installing ‘No Parking’ signs falls under traffic engineering,” he said, adding that traffic police could file cases if parked vehicles caused obstructions.

However, Nayeem Rayhan Khan, executive engineer (Civil) of DNCC's Traffic Engineering Circle, said parking was allowed where no “No Parking” sign had been installed.

“Where there is no ‘No Parking’ sign, parking is allowed as no restriction has been imposed. A case cannot be filed if there is no such sign,” he said.

He added that DNCC had installed such signs at major intersections and important points along main roads, with parking prohibited within 50 metres of a sign. Asked about the number of designated parking spaces under the corporation, he said he did not have the updated figures.

Prof Dr Sarwar Jahan of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP) at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said the city corporation could not provide enough roadside parking spaces, forcing people to park on roads. He added that proper parking facilities were scarce and drivers often did not know where parking was permitted.

Blaming poor coordination among government agencies, he said inconsistent decisions by traffic police further confused drivers, who were sometimes allowed to park on a road and sometimes prohibited from doing so.

Prof Dr Omar Faruk, chairman of the Department of Criminology and Police Science at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, stressed the need for transparency and accountability in traffic law enforcement.

He said citizens must know the rules under which they were fined and that parking restrictions should be accompanied by proper instructions and signboards. Otherwise, confusion could arise, and law enforcement could become a form of harassment, he added.