Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has decided to use vacant lands earmarked for public parks and community halls, for parking purposes instead.
With parking spaces fast becoming scarce in the twin cities, the GHMC has drawn up plans to introduce parking lots. If all goes according to plan, the Greater Hyderabad will soon be dotted with multi-level stack parking facilities.
The corporation has proposed the establishment of parking facilities at its head office, zonal offices and circle offices, where open plots are available, on a pilot basis.
However, property owners are unwilling to allow their lands to be used by the GHMC.
Highly-placed sources in the GHMC say that landowners have no faith in the corporation, they believe that the GHMC may permanently convert their lands into parking facilities, and eventually assume ownership.
Though corporation officials have been receiving inquiries regarding the proposal, only a few applications have been received so far.
The GHMC officials recently held a review meeting with the police, headed by the Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy. They claimed that the owners of private lands were not willing to provide their vacant plots to setup parking facilities.
In the past three months, permission has been granted for the setup of a single stack parking facility on 560 sq. yards of land in Yellareddyguda, near Ameerpet Metro Station.
The GHMC officials said that they would also give the GHMC’s vacant lands and open spaces available in public parks and community halls to setup parking facilities; however, that is against the norms.
Speaking to this newspaper, a senior GHMC official said that the corporation had received only two applications for the setup of stack parking facilities.
