Deccan Chronicle 26.01.2010

Multi-level parking for new House

Jan. 25: At a time when ordinary tax-paying Chennaiites struggle to park their vehicles in the metropolis, the state government is seriously contemplating the construction of the city’s largest ever parking lot for netas alone.

The secretariat complex now coming up at Omandurar Government Estate would have a multi-level vehicle park. The vehicle park would come up in the area where the old MLAs hostel is situated now. It would have a capacity to accommodate about 700 cars at a time, a senior state PWD (public works department) official told this paper on condition of anonymity.

In fact, the vehicle park would be as tall as the main secretariat building — six floors. To begin with, temporary arrangements would be made to park the vehicles in the open after demolishing the hostel. Construction of the parking lot would begin soon after the completion of the main buildings of the secretariat, PWD officials said, adding that tenders would be floated in the months to come.

Unfortunately, the multi-level vehicle park would accommodate the fleet of luxury cars owned by our netas and their associates. The government has accorded optimum priority for handling vehicles on the new secretariat campus that an 800-metre-long driveway (covered) has been constructed around the main building that houses the Assembly hall. The driveway would have six dropping points for ministers and legislators besides an exclusive entry point for the chief minister and the public. Landscaping would be done over the ‘tunnel’ driveway.