The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Parking woes only get compounded

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 01, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Parking woes only get compounded

Staff Reporter

Massive complexes show little regard for parking facilities

STRICT RULE: A car being towed away on the Greenlands Road. — PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

HYDERABAD: It's not just fuel in the vehicle tank, but the ability to find parking space that is crucial these days to drive a vehicle in Hyderabad.

Finding parking space is turning out to be a frustrating task in Sultan Bazar, Patny Centre, Begumpet, Himayatnagar, Khairatabad, Panjagutta, Secunderabad and many other areas.

With the traffic police designating many areas as no-parking zones and towing away parked vehicles, the motorist is at a loss to park the vehicles. Of late, signboards of `No parking / Tow away zones' sprang up at many places in the twin cities. This has led to another unforeseen problem. Vehicles are now parked in the narrow lanes and bylanes, making life difficult for those living in them.

Indifferent authorities

In central business areas, the problem is more acute. Those going for shopping are forced to park cars at far off places or ask the drivers to take away the vehicle and return at a prescribed time. With land prices shooting up, no building owner is ready to sacrifice land for parking. The civic officials too are not much interested in enforcing the minimum parking requirement rules, for some inexplicable reasons.

In Secunderabad Cantonment Board area, massive complexes are coming up along the main roads with little or no regard for parking arrangements. Hotels like the one near RBI forces its patrons to park vehicles on the road leading to massive traffic jams. It's not just the commercial establishments, but some of the police stations too do not have parking places. Like in Sultan Bazar station, policemen and complainants have to park vehicles on the road. Traffic Police Additional Commissioner M. Punna Rao says controlling `on-street' parking is must for free flow of traffic. "We have identified buildings on main roads which have no parking places and wrote to the civic authorities. It is up to them to react and make alternative arrangements," he remarks.

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Andhra Pradesh