Parking woes multiply

CHANDIGARH: With a population of over 12 lakh, Chandigarh is busting at its seams and parking is an area which clearly reflects this exponential growth. To add to the woes is the growth in vehicle population. Given the situation, it's no surprise that parking woes have literally multiplied in the recent past.
Residents rue that contractors manning the slots do not inform them about the parking capacity and let everyone park, resulting in haphazard parking."Vehicles randomly parked, sometimes in the middle of the parking lot causing chaos, are a common sight. Making things even worse, there are no attendants after 10pm," said Sailesh Gupta, a student of BTech IT residing in Sector 35.
Even if one manages to enter this parking maze there are no attendants to guide you, said Daisy Kochhar, a resident of Sector 34. She added, "Most of the times there are no attendants to guide you inside the parking lot, forcing people to park their car in neutral - but only to return and find the car shifted to an unknown location in the parking lot. Worse, in the process two-wheelers are also pushed aside and most of them are found lying on the road blocking the way."
Manjali Gandhi, a manager at a company in Sector 26, said, "There is a real need to upgrade the parking capacity of this city. Once that is done, then the authorities should have rules and regulations in place so that there is no mismanagement and confusion. Also, there should be a separate parking slot for the physically disabled."
Irked with the routine problem, Chhavi Goyal, who works in a private firm in Sector 8, said, "I don't get concession even though I am a daily visitor to this sector as I work here. There are no clear rules and guidelines set for these parking contractors."
Rahil Manawa, a student residing in Sector 35, said, "Parking lots in city lack basic management. Anyone and everyone are allowed to park whatever way he or she likes. Sometimes people even park one vehicle in place of two as there is no attendant to guide them."
The sectors which deal with this problem are 35, 8, 22, 19, 34, 9 and Sukhna Lake (Sector 1).