Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Feb 3: With the increase in number of vehicles and shortage of parking spaces in the city, the people have become a harassed lot. The city corporation has a proposal to form a separate team of officials to identify vacant spaces that can be converted into vehicle parking areas.

There is public demand for creation of parking spots at Kankanady, Ambedkar Circle, Bunts Hostel, State Bank, PVS Circle, Kudroli, Bunder, Lalbagh, Car Street etc where the people having vehicles come across a lot of problems. The people demand parking space to park vehicles for short periods till they complete work and return.

In many cases, people who park their vehicles for a few minutes to attend to urgent work find that their vehicles are towed away. By the time they go to the police station and complete formalities before remitting fine and getting back vehicles, several hours are wasted. The fines are also high.

There is a plan to build a three-storied parking complex near Balam Bhat Hall to address parking problem at Car Street. This building will have space for 60 vehicles, said MLA Vedavyasa Kamath.

A major cause for the parking problem is usage of parking areas for commercial purpose by building owners. The corporation has identified 50 such buildings and served notices. 1As many as 15 of these buildings have since cleared the encroached space and allowed parking. Corporation commissioner Akshy Sridhar, says that the corporation will act strictly against violators.

A meeting of police and corporation officials will be held soon. The meeting is expected to approve exhaustive change in traffic system, hums, CCTV cameras, sign boards etc towards bringing improvement in the situation.