Blame buildings sans basement parking

Blame buildings sans basement parking
Traffic hurdle, one too many?
Deccan Herald

Have trouble navigating through a road speckled with parked vehicles? The culprits stand tall. They are owners of the high-rise commercial and residential buildings, devoid of any basement parking.


Have trouble navigating through a road speckled with parked vehicles? The culprits stand tall. They are owners of the high-rise commercial and residential buildings, devoid of any basement parking. Most buildings in the city have merrily sacrificed the basement and stilt parking space for commercial use, to ring in that extra ‘moolah’. At least 50 per cent of basement parking lots in buildings have been converted into shops, coaching classes and godowns, according to BMP sources.

This, despite the new byelaw (2003) of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), which has a separate Parking clause that calls for compulsory basement or stilt parking in both residential and commercial buildings. Even the Building Byelaw of 1984, insists that the basement floor can be used only for parking or as stores of households, darkrooms, strongrooms (banks), services and utilities of building, garage, stockroom (libraries).

Toothless panels

Two special panels - BMP’s Technical and Vigilance Cell (officers) and the Standing Committee on Town Planning and Development (elected representatives) , are busy identifying properties with violations. But have no powers to take action.

“The Committee has detected 21 cases of building violation in just three wards inspected in the first week of August. We have noticed violations up to 100 per cent - encroachment of parking lots, stormwater drains and footpaths,” says BS Puttaraju, who heads the Standing Committee.

The Committee, which inspected various buildings on MG Road, St Mark’s Road, Srinivasanagar, Padmanabhanagar and Banashankari III stage, Kanaka Nagara, Ittumadu, Rajivanagar and Uttarahalli, has submitted the report to BMP Commissioner and the Chief Minister.

On the other hand, the Vigilance Cell headed by Hanumanthegowda has its hands full with complaints of violations. “Training field officers to detect violations, issue notices and do follow-up action is a must. We only inspect premises based on complaints and file compliance reports,” says Hanumanthegowda.

Even as the total number of notices issued by the BMP to the defaulters remains a mystery, sources claim that BMP has detected more than 470 cases till 2003 alone. However, many defaulters take refuge in the courts.

Earlier, the BMP had a centralised system to detect building violations. But now it has been decentralised and ward engineers and zonal heads keep track of the building violations.

“Many court cases are pending over the last 10 years. Political pressure, connivance of authorities from all related departments has been a bane,” rues a senior BMP official.

Will strict enforcement of basement parking sweep out the on-street parking menace? The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no. “Misuse of basement parking is rampant. In some cases, it is partial misuse as part of the cellar is still used for parking. Strict action like imposing a hefty penalty and imprisonment will be a good deterrent,” suggests Hanumanthegowda.

He adds that it can reduce the on-street parking to some extent.

WHAT LAW SAYS

All the buildings constructed after April 27, 1984 are not entitled to seek a trade license for any commercial

enterprise in the basement. As per the building bylaw of 2003, effective since June 2004, no basement shall be used for purposes other than parking and for locating machines used for service and utilities of buildings.



BRAIN WAVES

Dr A Ravindra

Retired IAS Officer

Increasing number of vehicles have rendered the prescribed standards for parking inadequate.

Misuse of parking space is not only a building violation and cannot be viewed in isolation. It has

consequences like traffic snarls on main roads. Some of the measures to tackle the problem are :

*Strengthen public transport to cut down private vehicles

* Charge a fee to regulate increasing utilisation of

public roads for parking (even near the residences).

* Open up parking lots zone-wise

* Promote ‘build and hire out’ concept to encourage private participation.

* Decongest city centre by creating multiple commercial hubs

M N Reddi

Additional Commissioner (Traffic)

Parking on the streets causes traffic obstruction. Effective basement parking could have definitely

reduced the spill-over of vehicles on the main roads. But that is not all. The parking lots are saturated and the BMP has only two multi-level parking at J C Road and K G Road.

* BMP should create at least 25 more off-street parking lots at critical locations.

* Ban ‘on-street’ parking all along arterial roads.

* Create medium-sized multi-level parking at critical locations instead of a master structure (which is underutilised).

* Open up government and BMP land for off-street parking

B S Puttaraju

Chairman of Standing Committee on Town Planning and Development

It is evident that the BMP’s field

officers have failed to keep vigil on these developments. We need better

deterrents.

* On default, the building plans should be immediately cancelled.

*Structures should be demolished as per the KMC Act.

* Ward watch to detect violations in new buildings.