The Hindu 22.09.2014
Shimoga City Corporation prepares scheme to utilise conservancy lanes
Authorities plan to convert such lanes into parking slots
The Shimoga City Corporation has prepared a detailed
project report on how to utilise the conservancy lanes to provide civic
amenities like parking slots and constructing shops to accommodate
street vendors.
There are 176 conservancy lanes in
Shimoga and their total length is 70 km. It is a known fact that many
multi-storeyed buildings have been constructed in the city by violating
the norms related to construction in a flagrant manner. As many such
buildings have not reserved space for parking, the vehicles are being
parked in a haphazard manner along Nehru Road, and roads in Tilak Nagar,
Durgigudi and other commercial areas, resulting in traffic jams. The
street vendors operating in Shimoga have compounded the problem.
To
address this issue, a food court was developed in the conservancy lane
between Durgigudi and Tilak Nagar locality here in November 2011. The
mobile canteens operating along the Kamala Nehru College Road were
shifted to the food court. The shifting of the mobile canteens resulted
in the free flow of vehicles there. The project evoked good response
from the owners of mobile canteens and the general public. Another
conservancy lane adjacent to Tilak Nagar has been developed into a
parking slot, which is likely to become operational shortly.
Encouraged
by the response the food court had evoked, the city corporation has
planned to convert other conservancy lanes into parking slots in
commercial areas of the city, where the traffic density is high. It has
been planned to convert conservancy lanes in Tilak Nagar, Park
Extension, Durgigudi and Gandhi Nagar into taxi stands.
A.R.
Ravi, Commissioner of city corporation, said that public-private
partnership model would be adopted to develop the conservancy lanes. A
private jewellery outlet operating in Savarlane has come forward to join
hands with the city corporation in developing a conservancy lane here
into a parking slot. In future, the city corporation wants to construct
stalls in the conservancy lanes and shift street vendors engaged in
selling fruits and vegetables there.
The rent
collected from the occupants of these stalls and the fee collected at
parking slots would be used for the maintenance of these facilities, he
added.
During a recent visit of Minister for Urban
Development Vinay Kumar Sorake to Shimoga, members of the city
corporation had submitted a memorandum to him, requesting the State
government to release grants for the development of conservancy lanes.
The
Minister had responded positively for the request. He also visited the
food court in the conservancy lane between Durgigudi and Tilak Nagar
locality and expressed happiness over the facilities there.
No space reserved in multi-storeyed buildings in the commercial areas in Shimoga
Public-private partnership model likely to be adopted in the development of conservancy lanes