The Indian Express                 28.12.2013

Sec 17 to get 2 automated parking lots today

Two fully automated parking lots will become operational in Sector 17 on Friday. This is for the first time that such a system will be introduced in commercial areas of the city.

With full automation, the number of vehicles that are being parked at one time will be restricted and the residents will be required to pay as per the number of hours for which the vehicle is parked.

The fully automated parking facility will be introduced at the Empire Store parking lot and at the Sahib Singh parking lot. While entering the parking, people will be given an electronically generated slip that will have the time of entry. For the first four hours, Rs 5 will be charged for four-wheelers and Rs 2 for two-wheelers. Thereafter, for the next four hours, an additional Rs 5 will be charged for four-wheelers and Rs 2 for two-wheelers.

Initially, the proposal was to charge Rs 5 for the first two hours and Rs 10 for every subsequent hour for four-wheelers. For two-wheelers, Rs 2 were to be paid for the first two hours and Rs 4 for every subsequent hour. The proposal witnessed opposition from several quarters and was revised.

The number of vehicles that are parked in these parking lots will be restricted. The Sahib Singh Parking lot can accommodate around 300 vehicles while the Empire Store parking lot has the capacity for 139 vehicles. Once these are full, no other vehicles will be allowed to enter till there is a vacant slot. At present, the contractors keep allowing vehicles to enter, creating a chaos inside the parking lots.

Mayor Subhash Chawla will inaugurated the facility.

The proposal had been in the pipeline for the past several years. However, it could not materialise. The MC had installed equipment for making the parking lots semi-automated. The experiment was not successful with the equipment not being put to any use.

The growing number of vehicles are causing parking problems with the space available shrinking. The existing parking lots are generally brimming with vehicles with some of these spilling out onto the roads as well. The contractors at the parking lots flout norms laid down by the civic body.