Parking lots idle as Rourkela residents fight congestion

ROURKELA: Even as vehicle parking problem has aggravated for city denizens here, the newly-constructed large parking lots and old parking areas are lying idle since their completion. As a result traffic management has gone awry while Rourkela main road and busy thoroughfares of the city continue to remain congested.

Sources said,  the Rourkela Smart City Ltd (RSCL) constructed two major parking lots, one near a car showroom at Civil Township and another close to Singhasani temple at Uditnagar spending a whopping Rs  1.46 crore. But long after its completion,  the parking space at Civil Township is now being used for holding religious functions of a nearby temple, while the Uditngar parking lot houses some evicted roadside food vendors.  

The RSCL is developing another large parking area of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) near Traffic Gate at a cost of Rs  2 crore and it is likely be ready by June, sources added. However, the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) for several months has not floated any tender for its old existing parking lots at Old Taxi Stand and Old Bus Stand to allow parking space to those visiting the market places.   

The situation has been worsening with most private and commercial building owners along the busy main road and market places lacking own parking areas. With no space, people are seen parking their vehicles on roads resulting in narrow passageway. However, RMC neither checks the practice nor takes action against those establishments forcing customers to pay fees thus encouraging them to park on roads.

Former President of Rourkela District Congress Committee Biren Senapati said there is no coordination between the RMC and local police to address the parking problem. He said, “the RSCL and RMC authorities are spending money on new parking lots without putting them to gainful use. Their sole intention is to spend and get commission.” A new parking lot has come up at Panposh, but there is no display board to ascertain who owns it.  

RMC Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Gouravmaya Pradhan said he is unaware about the status of the new parking lots of RSCL. For the existing parking areas of RMC,  he said he can comment only after going through the files.