Chandigarh: Sector 17 parking lots jampacked, Rs 48-cr multi-level facility vacant

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 12

While other parking lots in Sector 17 remain overcrowded leading to haphazard parking, the Rs48-crore multi-level facility continues to remain vacant.

Parking lots should display ‘parking full’ boards and direct visitors towards the multi-level facility. However, the operators keep allowing vehicles to earn more, making visitors vying for space inside the lots — A visitor

Visitors do not prefer using the multi-level parking for want of easy access. Even the Municipal Corporation (MC) has failed to make efforts to promote the facility, which seems to have become a white elephant.

During a visit to the multi-level parking, this correspondent found most of its part vacant. On one of the floors, instead of visitors’ vehicles, two-bin waste vehicles of the MC and public bike-sharing project bicycles were parked. Most area of the floor was vacant. On another floor, about 60 taxis of a private operator were parked. Though there are designated sites for taxis in the city, this operator is apparently getting a special treatment for a long time.

Only on the top floor, a few vehicles of general visitors were seen though most of the area was vacant.

On other hand, the Sahib Singh, Empire, MOH and Bank Square parking lots remain jampacked in Sector 17.

In the past two days, vehicles were found parked in haphazard manner at different parking lots and the contractor was penalised. “Parking lots should display ‘parking full’ boards and direct visitors towards the multi-level facility. However, the operators keep allowing vehicles to earn more, making visitors vying for space inside the lots,” said a visitor.

Senior Deputy Mayor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu suggested, “The user charges in the multilevel parking in Sector 17 are lesser than the other parking lots and the visitors get to park their vehicles in a covered facility, making it convenient for them during rains and peak summer afternoons. Still, the facility has remained under-utilised, which points towards lack of awareness amongst general visitors. Shop owners and their staff should at least park their vehicles in the multi-level parking as it will provide more space at other lots.”

Congress councillor Satish Kainth said, “When this parking was built, there were protests by traders as well as some BJP leaders, still the then Mayor from the party got it inaugurated in 2016. The cash-starved MC is not earning anything from it, and it is a huge financial burden. The need of the hour is to make efforts to make it functional.”

Leakage has also been witnessed at the parking, but it has not been repaired.

MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “I will examine the matter and try to make it functional.”

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