03 March,2010 09:32 AM IST | | Debarti Palit
Laxmi Rd shopkeepers finally give pay-and-park system green signal
Every day some 2,000 people throng Laxmi Road, a major shopping destination in the city, and parking has become nightmare in the area.
One of the busiest roads in the city, there is space to park only 200 vehicles in its vicinity. And as the number of vehicles on city roads zoom, Laxmi Road is getting chaotic by the day.
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The problem has grown to such an extent that Laxmi Road shopkeepers, once strongly opposed to a proposal to introduce the pay-and-park system on the road, have now given a green signal to the scheme.
Shailesh Ranka of Ranka Jewellers, who has two shops in the area, said, "After several rounds of discussion we have decided that pay-and-park will be a better option to tackle the problem. At least people won't park their vehicles unnecessarily, which will free up parking space."
Today, as most of the available parking space is taken up by employees of 400-odd shops in the area, there is hardly any space left for shoppers to park their vehicles.
Dinesh Jain, MD, Jai Hind Collection, feels once pay-and-park is introduced it will bring some much-needed discipline to the parking habits of people.
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Additional City Engineer Shrinivas Bonala said the pay-and-park system would be introduced as soon as legal issues were taken care of.
Suryakant Pathak, president, Grahak Panchayat, Pune, believes that unless and until extra parking lots are built, nothing will solve the parking woes on Laxmi Road. He said, "Some 10 years ago it was proposed that there would be 10 to 12 parking lots built on Laxmi Road, but only two have been built, and most of the area there is used by other businesses and PMC gets money for that. Commercial shops and restaurants have used these spaces as extension for their shops."
