One of the biggest urban nightmares for the residents of Dwarka these days is locating a place to park their cars while stepping out.
Most of the market areas, commercial complexes and parks in the sub city do not have a dedicated parking lot and those available are too small to meet the sub city’s growing number of vehicles.
The situation has become so bad that the residents have started parking their cars in service lanes and footpaths, giving rise to a host of other problems like traffic congestion, encroachments, no walking place, quarrels and road rage.
Haphazard and illegal parking have turned main market areas, like Ashirwad Chowk, Ramphal Chowk, and mall area in Sectors 22 and 23, a scene of chaos.
AK Singh, a resident of Sector 6, said, “All this points to an utter failure of town planning. There is no dedicated parking space for people visiting these markets. Whatever space is there is used by the market people.”
Most of the times even the space reserved for fire tenders is also occupied. Experts say it could prove very dangerous. The residents say that the situation is the worst around school opening and closing hours as lines of school buses and vans are parked haphazardly on the roads.
Sunita Rai, a resident of Sector 4, said, “It is a mess right now but my biggest worry is what will happen five years down the line. The number of cars is only going to increase but where is the place to park.”
Owing to insufficient parking spots within their premises, many societies have encroached upon the footpaths. Some have even put signboards and barricades to grab a portion of the road or footpaths to park their vehicles.
RWAs have held a number of meetings with civic bodies on the subject but no solution has come out so far. “Neither the DDA nor municipal corporation look serious to resolve the issue. We need to have a designated parking area near markets and other public places,” said RK Chauhan, a resident of Sector 12.
Speaking to City Spidey on the subject, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC)’s leader of the house, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, said, “We understand the seriousness of the issue and are working to resolve it. We have sent a proposal to the DDA to regulate parking space in key, identified areas and also construct multi-level parking.”
