Plan to use vacant spaces as parking spots turns out to be a damp squib in Gurugram

Gurugram: Based on an official count on an average 10,000 vehicles get fined and over 1,500 vehicles get towed every month in Gurugram. Despite stringent action by the authorities this lack of parking spaces allows the vehicles to park the vehicles illegally. To deal with the the problem, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) had come up with the concept of allowing plot sizes of 600 square yards to be used as parking spots in which the owner of the land could also charge money from the owners.

Two years after the conception of the idea has turned out to be a damp squib. It is important to note that in order for the landowners to come forward for this initiative, the MCG had set a license fee of Rs 100 to pay to it on an annual basis.

According to a senior officials of the MCG, the main reason for the failure of the initiative is landowners continue to feel inhibited by the move and thereby feel hesitant to participate in the process. The officials cite that most of the landowners feel that in the garb of parking the land mafia would instead use it for encroachment purposes.

With a large number of vacant plots in Gurugram not being used for valuation purposes, a large amount of area continues to be usurped through encroachment, setting up of illegal colonies to even dumping of large mounds of garbage.

On his visit to Gururgam on Thursday, Chief Minister ML Khttar came to know about the the problem when he observed that the large swathe of land at the Old jail complex was used for setting up of slums and used for dumping garbage. Co-incidentally the area is just two kilometers away from the district mini secretariat where a large number of officials have their headquarters.

In the past, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram had come up with schemes of free parking inside the basement of the malls to using vacant areas as parking spots. Yet, the schemes have not proved to be successful in resolving the parking woes. "A visit to MG road is enough for anyone to understand how the problem of parking has become a menace in the city. The situation gets worse when you move the old part of the city. Vested interests and parking mafia has ensured that the problem does not get resolved fast," said Raman Kapoor, a city resident.