As the government makes tall claims that it is taking all measures to streamline traffic on city roads, it has failed to provide parking space to the locals in Srinagar.
The residents said today that a few places in Srinagar city which were being used as parking spaces had been handed over to street vendors leaving no option for them to park their vehicles.
“In the morning while parking my car outside my office in Jahangir Chowk, it took me more than an hour to find a place. There is a mess everywhere. The government is only taking cosmetic measures,” said Zainab, a city resident.
After the shifting of the Durbar move offices to Srinagar, the traffic has increased manifold. However, after the implementation of the new traffic diversion plan, the congestion has ended in the city giving a breather to commuters. But now the lack of parking place has turned to be another challenge.
“There is a huge rush of vehicles in Srinagar but there is no parking space available,” said another resident.
From the last one month, all the encroachments in the commercial hub of the city have been removed. From the TRC Ground to Amira Kadal, which was often occupied by street vendors, has been cleared. Vendors have been provided a new address at the SRTC bus yard, which has been converted into a market for them. The vendors have lined up their stalls at the yard and placed a banner which — Makkah Market. Traffic Department officials said no illegal parking would be allowed in the city. The officials said they had already identified 28 locations in the city as roadside parking points. However, the locals said there was no proper parking point near the Exhibition Road giving tough time to office goers and businessmen.