Bhubaneswar, Jan. 30: Poor co-ordination between the municipal corporation and the general administration department has resulted in parking problem outside the Adivasi exhibition ground at Unit-I, where a 15-day fair is going on.

While the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has allotted the space to a trader to use it for parking of vehicles, the general administration (GA) department has permitted another vendor to hold Meena Bazar and set up swings and rides for children at the same space.

Consequently, thousands of visitors now find it difficult to park their vehicles outside the fair ground.

Incidentally, the GA department granted the permission for Meena Bazar against the wishes of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC & ST) development department that organises the tribal fair every year. The SC & ST department had written to the agencies concerned, including the civic body and police, not to allow any shops to come up in the 8,000sqft area outside the ground during the fair.

Pradyumna Choudhury, whom the corporation had permitted to set up a parking lot, had paid Rs 35,000 to the civic body.

He said already five days had passed, but the land had not yet been handed over to him for the parking purpose.

On the other hand, Ranjan Barik, who is running the Meena Bazar, said he had obtained permission from the GA department and his business was restricted to the space allocated to him. 'I have paid the authorities the required fees,' he said.

Besides, there are complaints from visitors as well as the organisers that apart from the Meena Bazar, many shops have come up outside the exhibition ground without obtaining any permission from either the corporation or the GA department.

While GA department officials remain tight-lipped about permitting shops to come up at the exhibition ground against the SC & ST department's instructions, a civic body official said they would check the organisers' guidelines and take steps accordingly.

Jyoti Ranjan Mohapatra, in charge of the tribal exhibition ground, said they had told the civic body and the police not to allow any such shops to come up outside the ground, as it would affect the beauty of the fair. But, no actions have yet been taken.

'We have again written to the concerned agencies for necessary action. The corporation officials had sought the report from us and we provided them. They have assured us of steps,' said Mohapatra.

A corporation official said they had not permitted anyone to set up shops at the ground. 'If we find that any shop has come up illegally, we will remove them,' he said.

'If the civic body takes any action and needs our help, we will co-operate with them,' assistant commissioner of police Tapan Patnaik.