Five ‘unsafe’ underground parking lots to be rebuilt in Chandigarh
At present, only one underground parking lot is operating in Chandigarh, which is also located in Sector 17
Aiming to increase the parking space in the city, the municipal corporation (MC) is planning to rebuild the five underground parking lots, buildings of which were declared unsafe by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in 2019 due to corrosion and have been lying shut since July 31, 2019.
The reopening of the lots will be a respite for the shopkeepers and commuters inSector 17 and Sector 8 where people struggle to find parking space and face traffic congestion through the week.
At present, only one underground parking lot is operating in the city, which is also located in Sector 17.
Three of the said underground parking lots are in Sector 17 — in front of the RBI building, the 30 Bays building (two-storey) and near Chhuttani Medical Centre (two-wheelers and bicycles). The remaining two are situated near SCO No. 118-119 and 147-148 in Sector 8-C, along Madhya Marg. The proposal to repair the lots was getting delayed as the civic body was requesting the UT administration to reconstruct the lots due to fund crunch.
Area councillor for Sector 17, Saurabh Joshi said, “A proposal has been submitted to the heritage committee to rebuild these parking lots and to increase parking space in them. When operational, these will help people park their vehicles in shade, especially in case of two-wheelers, and it will also increase space in surface parking, which currently remains fully occupied. The civic body will also work on handing over these lots to market welfare associations (MWAs) for operations.”
MC commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “The civic body has already submitted designs to the UT administration to demolish and rebuild these five underground parking lots, which were declared unsafe for the public. It will not only increase space in surface parking lots but we are also planning to increase space in new underground lots.”
“Also, to motivate the public to use the underground parking lots, parking will be made cheaper for the public as compared to surface parking lots. The shopkeepers and daily commuters will be benefitted more by using underground parking at cheaper rates,” the commissioner added.
Mitra further added that after the complete proposal, it will be tabled in the House meeting for budget estimations and approval.
The city currently has 89 surface parking lots that are divided into two zones.
