Bhubaneswar: In a bid to resolve parking issues, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to auction more individual parking lots in different parts of the city.
The civic body issued a notice to auction as many as 17 individual parking lots, in addition to 10 general ones. The individual parking lots are located near hospitals, educational institutes and shopping centres, among others.
"The number of vehicles are increasing in the city, but the space to park them is limited. We have time and again discussed the issue in our corporation meetings and are taking steps to resolve the parking problems," city mayor Sulochana Das said.
She said that parking in front of schools, hospitals and shopping centres remains a challenge since they do not possess enough space. "We identified as many as 17 individual parking lots and put them on auction," Das said.
The individual parking lots identified by the BMC are located at places such as near Apollo Hospital and near Maruti Estate close to KIIT Square, where haphazard on-street parking was rampant.
BMC, by auctioning the spaces and identifying them as individual parking lots, plans to streamline parking services in these areas. The other areas include the Lingaraj Temple complex, inside Unit I haat and near a shopping complex.
The civic body, for the first time, also listed the space under Bomikhal road over-bridge to be used as a designated parking lot. Presently, the space under Bomikhal ROB faces encroachment by vendors and haphazard vehicle parking.
In the general ones, BMC has brought three stretches — Rajmahal Square to Sishu Bhawan Square, Hotel New Marion to Shriya Square, and Ram Mandir to Kali Mandir and Kali Mandir to Catholic Church on Janpath — under parking spaces.
"Parking needs to be regulated in the city. On-street parking is manageable on wide roads, but on narrow roads, it is a nightmare. BMC should also come up with some regulation for parking in the inner lanes," Jagamara resident Pratibha Jena said.