VISAKHAPATNAM: Although vehicular traffic has almost doubled in the city, the GVMC and Vuda are yet to identify suitable land for multi-level vehicular parking lots. After bifurcation, Vizag has emerged as the biggest city in the state. While some big commercial complexes have provided space for vehicular parking, small malls lag behind. The parking problem has become an internal war between the local bodies and the city traffic police wing. While the police say their duty is not to provide parking space for all vehicles, local bodies claim that it is the duty of cops to clear the road.
“Ultimately, motorists are struggling to park vehicles and pay fine for wrong parking,” says Ganta Gopikrishna, a motorist and software professional. ACCP (Traffic) K. Mahendra Patudu says: “The city requires dedicated automated multi-level parking lots at four places in the city to provide parking space for vehicles. We have suggested the GVMC and Vuda to construct such parking lots at Beach Road, Daba Gardens, Dwaraka-nagar, Jagadamba Junction, Maddilapalem and also Gajuwaka. However, the local bodies are yet to identify any land for the parking lots.”
“Though the GVMC and Vuda promised automated multi-level parking lot system two years ago, so far not a single new parking space has been notified by the authorities. The GVMC has turned a blind eye to commercial complexes that fail to provide parking space in the basements,” says senior advocate and president of Forum of Legal Professionals Kuppili Muralidhar. However, VUDA vice-chairman T. Babu Rao Naidu and GVMC officials claim that they are in the process to identify locations for the purpose.
