ROURKELA: Commercial buildings along the main roads are not adhering to mandatory parking provisions. Several new commercial establishments and shopping complexes, including Style Bazaar and Vishal Mega Mart, have come up without adhering to parking norms. Rourkela Development Authority, on the other hand, has been claiming that building plans without parking slots are not being approved. A few others have created inadequate parking spaces, while complexes like Big Bazaar and PSR Cinema charge `30 for car parking even as their customers prefer the main road for parking.
Incidentally, during social and religious gatherings throughout the year, half a dozen venues continue to create parking problems leading to congestion of the main road.Rajasthan Bhawan and Haryana Bhawan, built several decades ago at the heart of the city, create traffic congestion during marriage season.
Agarsen Bhawan and Maheswari Bhawan, located near Rourkela Government Hospital, also create traffic jam with cars occupying both sides of the main road during marriage ceremonies.
Former Rourkela MLA Pravat Mohapatra said Hanuman Vatika complex came up on 13.20 acre Government land, but the trust members have not created any provision for parking. The complex is promoted as a tourism site and organises religious and social functions throughout the year. Visitors to Hanuman Vatika park their vehicles on Hanuman Vatika bypass which was created to facilitate easy flow of traffic, he said, adding that the administration should ask Vatika management to create its own parking area.
Traffic DSP Samarendra Nayak said restriction on car parking between Bisra Square and Uditnagar Square would continue and advised four-wheeler owners to park vehicles at the parking slots.
Former chairman of erstwhile Rourkela Municipality R C Bal said the two public parking lots along the main road are small leaving little room for car owners. He said to eliminate parking problem on the main road, the administration should activate parallel Mahtab Road and widen 10 connecting roads between the main road and Mahtab Road. He said the administration should also create a parking lot over 1.5 acre of Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) at Power House Road and also shift wholesale business activities from the main road to Balughat with early completion of the wholesale market yard.