Berhampur, Dec. 25: Parking facilities at shopping malls and apartments in Berhampur has come under the scanner of the district administration and the development authority.

Months after sealing two shopping malls in the city in May, the district administration sealed two shopping malls - Sanawala Shopping Mall in Gosaninuagaon owned by Dhiraj Chowdhury and My Mart near the State Bank of India Road owned by Jagannath Rout - a few days ago.

"The malls were allegedly causing traffic jams due to lack of parking space. During verification we also found that the house plans of both these malls were approved for residential purposes, but they were running as commercial entities," said secretary, Berhampur Development Authority, Dipti Mahapatra.

"We have also served notice to Harsh Arcade, an apartment on the Jenana Hospital Road, from where Rushikulya Gramin Bank, ICICI ATM, Mannapuram Finance, Prince Shoes and others run operations," said Mahapatra.

The district administration had sealed two shopping malls in the city - Bazzar Kolkata on the Urban Bank Road and Metro Bazaar on Satya Narayan Temple Road square - for lack of parking space in May. As there was no basement parking facilities in these buildings, customers were forced to park their vehicles on the nearby road causing traffic congestion. "Misuse of parking space is not just a building violation and cannot be viewed in isolation," said Berhampur sub-collector Siddhartha Sankar Swain, who was part of the raid team.