The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, along with the police, has started marking slots for on-street parking along the Janpath. The job started with the stretch between Rajmahal and Master Canteen Square.

The parking lots along the Ashok Nagar stretch on Janpath have space for four-wheelers, two-wheelers and para-transit vehicles such as autorickshaws.

Under the new process, parking lots for individual vehicles will be technically referred to as ECS or equivalent car space. While the ECS for a cars will be 1, for two-wheelers it will be 0.2, and for autorickshaws it will be 0.6.

The entire Janpath from Sishu Bhawan Square to Vani Vihar Square will have 500 to 600 units of parking space for cars.

Municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar said: “The ECS-based parking will be implemented in the city in January. At present it has been launched along the Ashok Nagar stretch. No parking fees will be charged as of now. Once commuters are explained about the system and things are streamlined, we will start collecting parking fees through contractors.”

Jasaswini Mohapatra, a homemaker from Soubhagya Nagar, said: “Parking cars along the Ashok Nagar stretch has been a problem. Moreover, with no rules in place, people made the most of it. Now, with the parking space specially marked, it will help set things in order. It is a welcome step by the civic body.”

On November 28, The Telegraph first reported that the civic body was going to implement the ECS norms for on-street parking and the pilot project will start from Janpath. In fact, the municipal and police commissioner had visited London to study the model of on-street parking last month. After a successful run on the Janpath, it will be replicated in other major streets across the city.

The busy Janpath, which is a four-lane road, is often clogged with vehicles that are parked in a haphazardly. The multi-level parking at two places along the Janpath, proposed by the public works department almost two years ago, have not seen the light of the day.

The parking slots will, however, exclude entry and exit points of bus bays and cuts on the medians and they will be at least 20 metres away from these points to avoid traffic jam and congestion. The corporation also plans to get more revenue after implementing the new parking formulae.