The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Political parties care a hoot for parking rule

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Friday, Aug 03, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Political parties care a hoot for parking rule

Marri Ramu

Visitors to NTR Trust building park vehicles on the road

- Photo G. Krishnaswamy.

Parking woes: Telugu Desam Party office in the city which provides no parking space.

HYDERABAD: While municipal authorities have begun serving notices on business establishments which have insufficient parking space, they seem to have missed the buildings from which political parties function.

Best is the case of NTR Trust building that accommodates the State headquarters of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which provides no parking facility for its leaders or visiting public. They are forced to park their vehicles on the road near Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Park.

Parking of vehicles on street has thrown traffic movement haywire many a time, especially, when the main opposition party holds meetings of its leaders. With little parking space inside, no vehicle, except the convoy of party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, is allowed to drive in.

There is no option for other party functionaries but to occupy the road space abutting the Trust building on Road No. 2 of Banjara Hills. This is one of the busiest routes. Compared to other roads, the number of four-wheelers is also high. As a result, the stretch from NTR Bhavan to Jubilee Hills and Punjagutta is always crammed. Parking of vehicles on the road is only adding to the traffic chaos. Not just the road space along the party office building but also that along the median and the vast open area before KBR Park is occupied by the visitors to the TDP office.

It is not as if the spacious building does not have a cellar. But it is used for different purposes other than parking. And no official has so far pointed it out to the powers-that-be, for obvious reason. The security concerns for TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, who survived an abortive attempt on his life by naxalites, might have influenced the decision to bar parking on the building premises. However, the resultant public inconvenience obviously is not taken into consideration.

The traffic policemen, who have been acting tough in issuing traffic challans to those who stop their vehicles on roadsides even for a while, have turned a blind eye to this glaring misuse of the road and inconvenience to the public. The vast building with scanty parking space has failed to attract attention of the GHMC authorities.

Left parties’ offices

The situation is no better at Maqdoom Bhavan and Makineni Basava Punnaiah Bhavan housing the CPI and the CPI(M) party offices at Himayathnagar and RTC crossroads respectively. Areas surrounding these two buildings are known for traffic snarls. Arrival of a few cars to these offices means utter traffic chaos. Leaders of the parties concerned continue to work for the benefit of people sitting in their offices, but there is no respite for the public caught in the traffic snarls outside.

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