BENGALURU: Nearly a month ago, a sprawling parking space around the bustling Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda Metro station was declared open to the public. However, in sharp contrast to the huge parking demand expected at this venue, an average of just 30 vehicles are parked here daily. What is worse, the area is pitch dark during late evenings and nights as it is yet to be provided electricity by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL).
This has also ensured poor security as the contractor is unable to provide CCTV facility now. The parking space, operating from 5 am till 11.30 pm, was expected to house 82 four-wheelers and 500 two-wheelers daily. To ensure easy accessibility to the public, four gates — two on the Gubbi Thotadappa Road (opposite City Railway station) and two on the Tank Bund Road (Santhala Silks Road) -- were installed.
Aswath Reddy, who manages the parking here on behalf of the licencee S G Group, cannot figure out how such a vast space within walking distance of the KSRTC bus-stand, the railway station and the Metro station is not utilised by the public. He told Express, “Since there is poor response from the public, we have decided to keep one of the gates shut for now.” His company has agreed to pay nearly `50 lakh to BMRCL, which includes a licence fee of `42,60,600 for a 15-month contract. Explaining his efforts to publicise the venue, Reddy said, “We have spent nearly `50,000 on putting up banners and hoardings at all entrances.”
BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer U A Vasanth Rao felt that people are reluctant to pay for parking vehicles. “Since people have been parking their vehicles all around the area for free for a long time, they are now hesitant to pay for it,” he said. BMRCL can only provide the facility, but it is up to the public to make use of it, Rao added. What is surprising are the empty spaces here despite the near full parking lots at the Railway station across and the adjacent parking lot of KSRTC. The rates are almost on par.
Power, an issue
Though BMRCL handed over a no-objection certificate to SG Group to obtain electricity connection from BESCOM recently, the civic agency has turned down the request. “BESCOM told us it is not possible to carry out digging work here and lay cables just for a 15-month period. We have requested BMRCL again to help us out and they have promised to provide us power supply soon,” Reddy said.
Stating that he proposes to install 16 CCTV cameras for safety of vehicles, he said, “We are delaying our purchase of the cameras now as nothing can be done without electricity in place first.” Express caught up with a few who had parked their vehicles there. Most of them were not even Metro commuters. A group from Kukke Subrahmanya Town were delighted to see this new parking lot. “We come often to buy paints from Bengaluru and would park our car at different corners in Majestic area. It was such a surprise to find a parking space today,” said Nagaraju, their driver. Altogether 10 out of 40 Metro stations lack a paid parking facility.