At Vasanthnagar, residents & students lock horns for parking space

BENGALURU:

Verbal clashes

between students of seven-decade-old

Mount Carmel College

and elderly citizens of Vasanthnagar have reached a crescendo in the recent times. Their bone of contention is parking space.

With the college not providing parking slot and students leaving behind their two-wheelers in a haphazard manner in

small bylanes

, residents are left with no space to walk or park their vehicles. “Bikes are parked by the roadside, pavements and in front of our gates too. We get terse and nasty replies if we question them,” residents rued.

“Around 6 or 7 bylanes of Vasanthnagar located parallel to the college are fully occupied by parked vehicles. We’ve no space to keep our vehicles. If we park outside the gate, it will be surrounded by two-wheelers in no time, making it impossible for us to move our vehicles out,” said JLS Costa, a resident of 14th Main Road.

“This has become a headache for my elderly parents living on the Corporation Bank lane parallel to the college. Students often misbehave with elderly residents of the area when they request them to shift vehicles,” said C Latha, another resident.

Meanwhile, students complain of lack of parking arrangements though the college staff are provided with free parking.

“Parking our two-wheelers on roadsides is unsafe; we often find them scratched or damaged. However, we have no way out but to park in these bylanes which are closest to the college,” said a II year B.Com student.



College authorities claimed they are working with High Grounds traffic police to solve the issue.

A traffic inspector said over 80 cases of unauthorized parking were booked in a single day in the area, on Tuesday.

College seeks police help

Stating that lack of space is a major issue for the institute which houses over 10,000 students, Charmine Jerome, vice-principal, Mount Carmel College, said the management is trying to find a solution.

“As most of the available space has been utilized to build other infrastructure, the institute is unable to provide parking space for students. We’ve been encouraging our students to use public transport as much as possible to commute to and from the college,” said the vice-principal.

“We understand the concerns of the residents and are working with traffic police to identify parking spaces inside and outside the college where we can allow students to park. We’ll submit a letter to the traffic inspector on Thursday. Even paid parking facilities can be looked at,” said VN Raghu, head of the department of business studies.

QUOTES

This issue has made life difficult for my elderly parents who live on 13th Main Road. Two-wheelers are always parked in a haphazard manner and students are not even polite with senior citizens. Parking arrangements must be made on the college premises itself—the huge ground inside which is reserved for events can be used for the purpose

Rajesh BS, resident, 1st Block

From 7am, students start parking their vehicles outside our gates, often blocking our vehicles. They return only in the evening to take their vehicles. Sometimes, they occupy footpaths, inconveniencing pedestrians

Sunil Kumar, general secretary, Vasanthnagar Residents’ Welfare Association.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.