Small parking lots to turn into community halls

Unable to find contractors to run vacant parking lots, Municipal Corporation, Shimla, is set to turn 23 small parking lots into community halls, reading rooms or MC ward offices. These parking lots have a parking capacity of around 300 vehicles.

The civic body had recently invited tenders to run the vacant lying 26 parking lots across the town. However, till now the Corporation has not been able to get contractors for three parking lots which are in US Club, Kuftadhar and in Kaithu wards.

The corporation had earlier also invited tenders for these vacant parking lots thrice but were unable to attract contractors. After this, the corporation decided to invite tenders for one last time, however, the corporation was able to get contractors only for four of its parking lots.

During the recent monthly meeting of Municipal Corporation, Shimla, Mayor, Surender Chauhan had said that several people were parking their vehicles on the roadside instead of the MC parking areas in order to save money. The corporation had suggested that it would soon mark yellow line parkings in the town. It was also revealed that that the corporation did not have enough staff to operate vacant parking lots by themselves.

Facing a shortage of parking spaces, the town faces lots of parking constraints especially during the peak tourist season i.e. winters and summers, this step is likely to increase the parking vows in the town. Due to the shortage of parking lots, tourists as well as locals have to face a lot of inconvenience while finding parking space for their vehicles, which is a constant source of trouble.