Parking Chakkar 4: Malleswaram

PARKING CHAKKAR-4 MALLESWARAM
Hawkers hog the limelight here
Times of India

Bangalore: Hailed as a shoppers’ paradise, 8th Cross Malleswaram, has a distinct identity — permanent parking on the right side of the road. In fact, directions to a particular shop or road are given based on proximity to the ‘parking lot’.

On 8th Cross, people park, shop, walk around, eat... on the same road. Ditto on 3rd Cross, 4th Main, 11th Main, Sampige Road and 15th Cross. Sampige Road is partitioned —for hawkers, for vehicles and parking.

At 3rd Cross, parking problem has surfaced recently because of a popular restaurant. The narrow road has barely space for pedestrians but because of this restaurant, it has metamorphosed into a juggernaut. Finding space for parking is chaotic, there isn’t any which means the courtyard of quiet homes turns into a bustling parking lot.

1 Main problems: According to BJP spokesperson S. Prakash, who leads campaigns against fake pay and park schemes on some roads, the contract for the scheme extends only from Central Talkies to Sampige theatre. He alleges that money collected from other bylanes under the scheme is illegal. “After the contract is awarded they start collecting money from other roads also. The contractors make Rs 50 lakh annually because of this,’’ he alleged.

• The other problem is of vehicular growth disproportionate with the expanse of roads. Shopping areas, schools and colleges, hang-outs and eateries may be mushrooming but where is the space to park?
• Bylanes, which are peaceful residential areas are congested and resemble parking lots themselves albeit illegal.
• Parking in front of colleges —MES College for instance — does not come under the purview of BCC or any scheme but students have no other place but on the road with an attendant collecting monthly fares.

2 Corporator’s stand: According to Malleswaram corporator B. Muniraju, the following are the only roads that come under the pay and park scheme. They are: Sampige Road, 11th Cross, 8th Cross and 15th Cross. However, he acknowledges that “things are still moving, the contract has not been revived”.

3 What police say: According to a policeman at the Malleswaram control room, there is no problem in controlling parking lots. The problem is in manoeuvring 8th Cross and traffic near Sai Baba temple. “The pay and park scheme had some loopholes but everything is settled now,” he claims.

4 Shoppers’ voice: No vehicle should be allowed on 8th Cross, its too dangerous. Besides the bylanes must compulsorily be made vehicle-free.

YOUR VOICE

Following are suggestions from readers on providing parking space on Residency Road and Richmond Road.
Basements please:

All commercial establishments on congested roads must have basements for parking purposes. Education institutions should stagger their working hours to ease congestion on the roads. Another suggestion is BMTC buses must halt only at bus stops, to avoid pile-up of vehicles. — Somasundar, HAL II Stage

Parking on Residency Road between the flyover and Bishop Cotton School should be banned. The school should allow parking inside its premises as most schools have space for the same. This will solve parking problems to an extent.

EXPERT OPINION

C.S. Vishwanatha, chief of Torsteel Research Foundation in India.
We must go in for multistoreyed parking lots. The payand-park scheme is disorganised and we can’t trust the person collecting money. A firm has come up with a double-deck parking plan with a central shaft. Time has come we implemented the same.