Vacant land identified at places across city

Vacant land identified at places across city
The Times of India

Bangalore: It’s peak hour and imagine walking or running without bumping head-on onto some 100 people on Brigade Road, Commercial Street, Dickenson Road, Koramangala 80 feet Road, bylanes of Majestic and Gandhinagar.
The BMP, along with the traffic police, has decided to impose a quasi-ban on surface parking or parking on the roads at various busy roads. Roads are meant for vehicular and pedestrian movement and not for parking. With this dictum, authorities have identified large tracts of land at three different places to tackle the parking menace. A 3-km stretch near Ulsoor Lake, adjacent to the Gurudwara will handle the parking woes of Commercial Street, Ibrahim Street, Dickenson Road. Another tract of land near Forum Mall at Koramangala and some vacant land near Freedom Park — the erstwhile Central Jail.
Explains BMP commissioner K Jairaj, “We are devising total parking solutions, especially in CBD. We will soon implement this concept of parking only at designated parking lots and not across roads. Roads should be made more commuter-friendly as also pedestrian-friendly. I will discuss with the police and identify as many roads and corresponding parking lots as possible.’’ The concept is still awaiting government clearance. The authorities are, however, hopeful of giving it a heave-ho by the next two months.
How it works:
Shoppers can park their vehicles at the designated place for a nominal amount. Shuttle services will be operational between the parking lot and the specific road. For instance, the Commercial Street Traders Association has come forward to take up shuttle services between Ulsoor Lake and Commercial Street. To discourage surface parking, fares would be hiked. For instance, an hour of parking at Commercial Street means Rs 50.
The stretch near Ulsoor Lake has seen some firming up. Plans are already afoot to level the land, put slabs to even it out.
Says DCP (Traffic) M A Saleem, “Commercial Street is a shopper’s paradise but because of so much vehicular movement, it has become impossible to commute. It will be much easier to manoeuvre after parking has been cut down substantially.’’
The moolah from the ventures, reckons BMP DC (resources) Vasanth Rao, could easily be Rs 1 crore, from all three places.
Anything to put the walk back in the boulevard and anything to handle the impossible parking mess.