Commercial units in residential areas clog parking space

Commercial units in residential areas clog parking space

Yogaraj S. Mudalgi and Arjun Ganesh
— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

No place to walk: Most of the pavements in Gandhi Bazaar have been encroached upon by vendors.
Bangalore: Bangalore is growing at an exponential rate. The first casualty, it seems, is parking space, which is becoming scarce with each passing day.

Residents living in the vicinity of commercial areas watch helplessly as customers of commercial establishments on adjacent roads park their vehicles, sometimes callously in front of their homes.

“Residents cannot park their own vehicles here and as it is a one-way, the traffic is heavy and we cannot even cross the road!” complained S.N. Rai, whose house is on the street behind Gandhi Bazaar Main Road.

Hotels, choultries
N.M. Chandrashekar, who lives in the same area, said that the numerous restaurants and choultries in the vicinity compound their parking woes.

“People going to the restaurants and choultries park right in front of our houses and we end up parking our vehicles further away from our homes,” said Dr. Chandrashekar.

Basements of several buildings are either converted to shops or used as additional storage space by building owners who make that extra buck at the expense of residents in the nearby areas.

Nandish, a resident of 5th Block Koramangala, a locality which has a lot of upmarket restaurants and shops, has a more frustrating tale to share. “Parking conditions here are so bad that I have often fought with vehicle owners who come to park their vehicles.”

Residents, shoppers and working professionals in Malleswaram often vie with each other to find parking space. B. Krishnamurthy, who stays between Malleswaram’s two busiest roads — Margosa Road and Sampige Road — said: “I have no place to park my vehicle. As parking is not allowed on the main roads, people park in bylanes. Very soon I will probably have to park my vehicle one kilometre away from my house and walk the distance.”

Police helpless
Mariswamy, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Basavanagudi Traffic, expressed helplessness in doing anything about it, as these areas are not officially no-parking areas. “We take action if vehicles are parked on roads where there is a no-parking board, otherwise we cannot book anyone,” he said.

He suggested that the residents in neighbourhoods with parking woes sign a petition and give it to the authorities concerned so that no-parking signs can be installed in such areas.