THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: City’s most annoying issue over the years, whether you’re a local or a tourist, is the chronic shortage of parking space. The sorry state of affairs is further accentuated by the complete failure of the Model Road concept brought in by the traffic police to alleviate parking woes.
Use open spaces
Every festival season the city police opens up the public spaces for parking. This year in order to accommodate the Onam rush the city police had thrown open more public spaces for parking. People point out that in order to find a lasting solution to parking problem the open spaces around the city should be utilised.
Multi-level parking: A distant dream
Last year, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Gurudin had come up with a slew of proposals to make the city free from traffic congestion. He had proposed finding open parking spaces especially near MG road and East Fort. He had suggested Putharikandam ground, Sreekanteswaram Park and Trida shopping complex area at Palayam as ideal locations for parking spaces due to their close proximity to MG road. At present, the space behind Trida complex has been allocated for parking while the remaining space lies unutilised.
In his proposal, he had also pointed out that as many as 23 commercial establishments located along MG Road and East Fort have been listed as having inadequate parking facilities. Though the city corporation had accepted the proposal, it has not acted upon it yet.
Gurudin had also proposed construction of a multi-level parking facility on the open space at Thakaraparambu.
But practical difficulties put a brake on the proposal. Multi-level parking system is space saving. It can accommodate over 100 vehicles at a time. Major commercial establishments, hotels and corporate offices have adopted this system to solve their parking woes.
Issue will be addressed soon: DCP
G Sivavikram, Deputy Commissioner of Police admitted that parking problem in the city is critical. He added that the pay and park system has failed to meet its objective. “There is a shortage of parking space in the city. Maximum space has been utilised. Finding a solution to parking woes is not our sole responsibility. Other stakeholders including the corporation should work with us to streamline the issue. However, a permanent solution will be arrived at soon after holding discussions with the Traffic Assistant Commissioner of Police,” Sivavikram told ‘Express’.