Parking space around Golden Temple shrinks

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 25

The parking space around Golden Temple has shrunk considerably due to beautification project around the holy shrine.

Pilgrims find it extremely difficult to locate a place to park their vehicles near Golden Temple as many parking lots lie closed.

On one hand devotees do not find space to park their two-wheelers and on the other an underground parking lot on the Ghanta Ghar side is lying closed.

The parking lot, which is located in the vicinity of Golden Temple, was closed after Heritage Road came into existence. After inauguration the road turned into a no-vehicle zone. So the underground parking lot became inaccessible to vehicle owners.

Before this, construction of Golden Temple entrance plaza closed four-wheeler parking lot, near the holy Sikh shrine. Two parking lots were closed over a period of one year.

A devotee Satnam Singh of Shahid Bhagat Singh Locality said, “Like many others, I daily come to pay obeisance at Golden Temple for the past many years. However, finding a place to park two-wheeler has become an onerous task. The shiromani committee has set up a spacious parking close to Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh Shahid, which is accommodating vehicles of devotees. Similar facility is required near Golden Temple.”

It does not mean that Golden Temple does not have any parking. Two parking lots were constructed to serve devotees visiting Golden Temple. Two four-wheeler parking lots in the Saragarhi and Kesari Bagh areas are operational, but they serve tourists coming from Hall Gate, Shera Wala Gate and Ghee Mandi Chowk.

However, devotees coming from Sultanwind Gate, Ramsar Road, Chattiwind Gate, Mayee Sewa Wala Bazaar, Shastri Market and other areas of the walled city face difficulty in finding a place to park their vehicles.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbahdhak Committee (SGPC) secretary, Dr Roop Singh, said attempts were being made to take up re-opening of the underground parking with the district administration.

He said an underground parking of Saragari Sarai (Inn) would also be thrown open to the public soon.