Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A bank manager Sanket Tiwari of Shubhalay Pearl Colony in Misrod was allegedly assaulted on Saturday by his neighbour, Dr Vivek Rajoriya and his two aides. Tiwari had objected to the latter parking his car outside Tiwari’s house repeatedly. Police have registered a case and are conducting further investigations.
In Sukhi Sewania, one Durga Thakur damaged Nepal Singh’s car and even issued threats over a parking issue on Monday night.
The incidents are just the tip of the iceberg as such incidents are continuously on the rise.
Parking disputes are intensifying and taking violent turns all over the state capital as vehicle numbers grow and available spaces shrink.
Police records show that three to four cases related to clashes over parking are registered every week, a worrying pattern. Moreover, the problem is widespread affecting gated colonies, campus townships, apartment blocks and even high-end residential societies.
However, the situation is much worse in the Old City localities where dense population and narrow lanes leave almost no space for vehicle movement. Disputes are routine in localities like Shahjahanabad, Jahangirabad, Kotwali and Talaiya as residents park their vehicles on already cramped roads. Here ‘might is right’ prevails and any small inconvenience can trigger a fight between locals over parking spaces.
ACP Hanumanganj Rakesh Singh Baghel said that now three out of every five complaints at police stations involved parking disputes. However, assault and vandalism cases were handled with strict action, he said.
Disputes when rules violated
In Shyamla Hills, a residential society member Sunita Joshi said that there were frequent arguments even in posh societies. “Every family gets only one car parking slot. But when a household with two SUVs, another car and multiple two-wheelers uses extra space disputes become unavoidable.”
At an apartment complex in Idgah Hills, resident Javed said that one family owning multiple vehicles with two or more four-wheelers and several two wheelers often resulted in conflict. Limited slots were allocated but some households occupied several spaces leaving others without room.
Parking issues turn violent
Two days back, miscreants damaged a dozen cars in Green Park Colony in Gautam Nagar after an argument with a trader over his car parked on the road. Police claimed that the miscreants, who were in an inebriated condition, were demanding money from the trader.
Brothers Arbaz and Ayan were assaulted and thrashed by their neighbours over a parking space in Noor Mahal locality in Kotwali area of the Old City three months back.
In February 2024, an elderly man died after being beaten by a man over a parking issue in the Ashoka Garden area.
Congress leader Shabista Zaki and her husband were attacked by their neighbour over a parking dispute at Shyamla Hills in June, 2023.
Earlier in December 2020, a 50-year-old woman in Bairagarh Deepti Manwani allegedly died of shock when her neighbour pointed a gun at her teenage son over a parking issue.
