Cars parked on the stretch between Ram Mandir Square and Master Canteen Square in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 27: There is a plan to have two multi-level car parking lots along the Janpath between Vani Vihar and Sishu Bhawan to relieve traffic congestion in the area.

Stating that the city management group was planning the parking lots, a senior traffic officer said this had been necessary to ensure proper flow of traffic on that stretch.

However, no one seems quite sure as to when the parking lots would come about. “Unless that happens, areas such as, Janpath, connecting Vani Vihar (Utkal University Square), Sahid Nagar, Unit IX, Satyanagar, Kharavela Nagar, Master Canteen, Ashok Nagar, Bapuji Nagar and part of Unit I and Unit II, will continue to face traffic chaos,” said an officer.

Executive engineer, division I of the public works department Manoranjan Tripathy said: “There is a plan to have two multi-level car parking areas. While one would be at Kharvel Nagar, the other one could be at Sahid Nagar. However, nothing is final yet.” Officers said a decision with regard to the location would be taken by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, the public works department and the commissionerate police.

At present, vehicles are being parked in the expanded portions of the major thoroughfares across the capital city causing a traffic mess. The Janpath is being six-laned for Rs 30 crore from Vani Vihar to Raj Mahal, but most of its expanded stretches are converted into “unofficial parking lots”.

Even the bays provided for parking between Bapuji Nagar and Vani Vihar and some other parts of the city are no longer being used as they are either inadequate or too congested owing to encroachment.

Parking of vehicles in the expanded portions of the major thoroughfares can always be spotted, though the peak hour is between 10am and 10pm. Vani Vihar, Bapuji Nagar and some parts of the Nandankanan — Airport Road are the worst affected by the illegal practice.

“On festive occasions the situation becomes worse and at times, people staying at the lanes and bylanes face difficulties while driving out their four-wheelers. The entry points of the roads are closed on many occasions by the parking vehicles,” said Tushar Satapathy, retired banker and a resident of Sashtri Nagar.

Senior citizen and conservationist S.K.B. Narayan said earlier, there were parking bays in between two rows of market buildings from Bapuji Nagar to Vani Vihar and even other parts in the city as per the design of the New Capital. However, with increase in the population and traffic, later the parking bays vanished or converted to other use. While the parking bays were lost, there was no effort to have any alternative arrangement.

“In designing infrastructure we should always be futuristic. The old plan of the capital city was to cater to a population of below one lakh. But, as it is touching 10 lakh, therefore, without going for alternative parking arrangements, expansion plan for the major roads could be a faulty decision,” he said.

Seikh Nizam, councillor of ward No. 36, said even though the alternative parking was not available, people were violating the traffic norms by parking at the no parking zone and zero tolerance zones. “The city traffic cops should punish the violators, especially in the way it is done in Cuttack,” he said.

BMC deputy commissioner Priyadarshi Mishra said expanded portions of the major roads were being used as parking bays. “However, the bays near the shopping areas along the major roads, marked years ago, were not for parking, but meant for the buses to take passengers,” he said.