Bhubaneswar, April 24: The public works department (PWD) has submitted a proposal to the state government for building two multi-level parking lots on Janpath to curb parking problems on the important road.

While one of the proposed parking sites near Master Canteen Square will have an area of 69,445sqft, the other at Rajmahal Square will be 87,400sqft. Both the lots would have three floors — basement, ground floor and first floor. Each site would have space for 300 cars.

“The construction cost of the two proposed sites is yet to be calculated because the number of floors has not been finalised by the state government and the general administration department,” said a PWD official.

The concept of multi-level parking has been discussed at meetings of the city management group (CMG) on many occasions. Though the Janpath has been expanded from Rajmahal to Vani Vihar with an investment of more than Rs 10 crore by the PWD, the eight-lane road perpetually suffers from parking space crunch. One lane on each side of the road is used for parking.

The problem is more acute between Sriya Talkies Square and Rajmahal Square. The two proposed multi-level parking lots intend to solve the problem.

Though no parking space is available after widening the eight-lane road, the police have not stopped collecting fine from vehicles parked there illegally. “We are doing our duty. It doesn’t matter whether there is parking space or not. If a person is found to have parked his vehicle in a no-parking zone, we collect fine. We can be stricter once the multi-level parking lots come into existence,” said a senior traffic officer.

Since the expansion of the road, the only available space with the state government is within the premises of government quarters situated along the road. They are under control of the general administration department. So, in the proposal, PWD engineers have suggested the demolition of 12 government quarters near Master Canteen Square from near Jajati Hotel and 16 quarters near Rajmahal Square from the Market Building side in Unit-II.

“There is no reason to panic because the present allottees of the government quarters will be given adequate time as a notice, along with alternative accommodation. Then the general administration department will take steps to demolish the structures so that the multi-level parking lots could be constructed. It is not yet clear whether the construction of the parking lots would be taken up by the PWD or the engineering wing of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority,” said a senior state government official.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, on the other hand, is planning to come up with a parking lot near Rajmahal Square on the Puri Ganguram side. Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena told The Telegraph that better movement of traffic was high on the civic body’s agenda and, if possible, more multi-level parking lots would come up.

“Apart from the parking problem, inadequate street lights after the adoption of LED lighting on the Janpath from Rammandir to Master Canteen Square has enhanced the risk of road safety during at night,” said Piyush Ranjan Rout, a city-based urban management practitioner.