The Hindu 08.12.2009

Drive on parking space paying off: Corporation

Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation seems to be on a mission to prove that nothing works like enforcement and follow-up. It says that these two vital factors have led to commercial complexes offering to provide space for visitors/customers to park their cars.

A multi-storeyed textile showroom on Cross-Cut Road has even begun efforts to put up a hydraulic parking facility while some others on the busy D.B. Road at R.S. Puram and at Saibaba Colony are working to keep their promise to the civic body that they will remove the unauthorised structures from the basement meant for parking.

Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra has formed a special demolition squad that identifies structures with building rule violations. The main focus is on the non-provision of parking space in the buildings. The Corporation is of the view that this leads to congestion on the roads as hundreds of parked vehicles hamper smooth flow of traffic.

“There are some positive things happening because of our sustained drive. Some of the commercial establishments are into creating the parking space themselves,” Mr. Mishra says.

Chennai Silks, the textile showroom on Cross Cut Road, has put up two hydraulic parking bays in its basement that is supposed to be only for parking. The 8,000 sq.ft. basement had been used for commercial purposes till the Corporation put a stop to it recently and asked the showroom to allocate the entire area only for parking vehicles. In the presence of an Assistant Town Planning Officer, the branch head of the showroom and a few other staff demonstrated the two hydraulic parking bays and explained how the rest of the basement will be covered by similar facilities in the next few months. A Pune-based company will supply the equipment. If only the actual floor space can be used, only 40 cars (of the low roof category) can be parked. If the entire basement is provided with the hydraulic facility, another 30 cars can be accommodated in a two-tier arrangement. The showroom staff point out that enough space is needed for negotiating turns in the basement. Therefore, the number of cars cannot exactly be doubled. As for the bigger vehicles, an open space has been allocated on a bylane.