Army bans parking on its land

Army bans parking on its land

Staff Reporter
Says the land had become a ‘shelter’ for some unidentified persons
— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

RECLAIMING LOST GROUND: An army truck parked at the entry point of the parking lot on Kamaraj Road in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Bangalore: Parking space on either side of Kamaraj Road near Commercial Street could be a thing of the past if the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) fails to act soon.

The Army’s Karnataka and Kerala Sub-area on a request by the BBMP in 1996, had allowed the land on either side of the road to be used for public parking.

However, the Defence authorities prohibited parking on the western side of Kamaraj Road since Tuesday and will soon take steps to prohibit parking on the eastern side (in front of the Army Public School) if the BBMP fails to maintain the area properly.

Col. S. Kemparaj, Colonel Group Staff, Karnataka and Kerala Sub-area, told The Hindu that they had initiated action to prohibit parking on the western side after the BBMP failed to respond to their repeated written requests to prevent littering and dumping of garbage adjacent to the compound wall that separate parking area and Army’s establishment.

Although there was no written agreement on the use of Army’s land for parking, Col. Kemparaj said the Army had permitted use of its property for parking in public interest at large and had asked the BBMP to look after the property.

Col. Kemparaj pointed out that some persons had been illegally collecting parking fee in the area and the pavement adjacent to the compound wall of the Army establishment has become a “shelter” for some unidentified persons.

“All these illegal activities left uncontrolled by the BBMP are posing security threat to the Army establishment,” he said and added that the Army would build a permanent wall in a couple of days closing the area for public use if it did not get any response from the BBMP.

Meanwhile, the sudden prohibition on parking put shoppers visiting Commercial Street and adjoining areas to hardship and a large number of vehicles were parked on the pavement blocking the traffic on Wednesday.

When contacted, BBMP’s Additional Commissioner (East) Puttaswamy said that he had not received any complaint in this regard but said that he had asked the jurisdictional assistant engineers to verify the facts after media persons brought to his notice the incident. He said appropriate action would be taken after consulting the Defence authorities.