After waiting in queue for 25 minutes last week outside the multi-level parking lot in Sarojini Nagar, Arvind Gupta gave up the idea of shopping and left the place.
Gupta was one of the few hundred people rushing to park inside the complex after the recent National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that bans parking of vehicles on the road in front of the Sarojini Nagar market area and a fine of Rs 5,000 for violators.
Last Thursday, when HT visited the spot, it took 37 minutes to enter the multi-level parking lot. There was at least a half a km long queue outside the complex.
Also there was no employee from the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), which manages the lot, present for managing the chaos. Shopkeepers at the market told HT that the traffic and chaos on weekends was worse. Ashok Randhawa, president, Sarojini Nagar Mini Market Trader Association said, “It takes 40-45 minutes to park vehicles. If this situation continues, people will stop coming to our market.”
Despite signboards by the traffic police warning people not to park on the road under NGT’s recent order, there were many who had chosen to park instead of waiting in the queue. Many shopkeepers said that they were earlier promised monthly car-parking passes by NDMC but they are still waiting for them. Randhawa said it is not practical for shopkeepers to pay Rs 12 per hour as they have to park the whole day. “Most shopkeepers are forced to park on the road because they cannot pay the fee,” he said.
VK Gautam, director, enforcement, NDMC, said that a circular was issued a few days ago inviting shopkeepers to issue passes at Rs 2,000 for a month but no one responded. Gautam said parking in multi-level spaces is a time consuming process, especially on weekends. “The automatic lifts take 8-10 minutes for parking each car. As far as deploying staff for managing crowd is concerned, we monitored the lot for 15 days after the NGT order and a report will be submitted to them next week,” he said.
Parking space: 824 cars
Project cost: Rs 80 crore
Year of completion: 2011