Hyderabad: “No parking” boards are being replaced by “free parking” boards in the core area of the city. The Hyderabad Traffic Police has identified 400 sites where free parking facility will be provided to the public. Free parking facility is already available at sites like opposite Kamat Hotel, SD Road, and Goshamahal.
The city has 25 traffic police stations under which 20 free parking facilities are being set up. This is being done to mainly discourage the parking mafia, reduce challans on wrong parking and to provide a public facility. Currently, 50 authorised parking lots are present in the city, of which only 18 are collecting fees as per the GHMC norms.
With the free parking facilities, the speed of vehicles will also improve and vehicles will be parked in an orderly manner, said sources. South Zone DCP (Traffic) A.V. Ranganath said, “Earlier, traffic police used to issue challans for wrong parking, but imposing fines has not solved the issue. Instead, identifying space and allocating it for parking will streamline it.”
The free parking facility has brought a shift in the thinking of the traffic police, Mr Ranganath said. The department is coordinating with commercial complexes not to park their vehicles in front of the establishments, and to instead use the free parking spaces.
“Counseling was held for shopkeepers who have come forward to coordinate. In areas where space is not available, a portion of the road (not hindering traffic) will be used for parking,” he said.
Hyderabad stands second after Chennai for the highest density of vehicles — for every 2 per cent increase in population, the increase in density of vehicles is 20 per cent, according to a Central government survey. Free parking will be set up at Maitrivanam complex at Ameerpet, Sanjeev Reddy Nagar, RP Road, Mehdipatnam, Vijaynagar Colony at Masab Tank, Darussalam, Mallepally and Nampally courts.
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
