VIJAYAWADA: Parking of two and four-wheelers has become a major problem in the city, thanks to the surging vehicular population and lack of effective mechanism to address the issue. Many arterial roads have turned into parking lots in the absence of a proper paid parking system.
In a bid to ease congestion of city roads due to unauthorised parking, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) had inked an MoU with Smart Parkings India Limited, a Chennai-based company, in 2018. The plan was to provide mobile app-based smart parking facility. The civic body allocated Rs 2.25 crore to implement the project.
The smart parking system was initially a big hit as motorists could book their slots at busy areas like Kaleswara Rao Market, One Town, Governorpet and Bhavanipuram.
But the initiative turned out to be a failure due to the high parking fees and technical glitches in its implementation. As a result, the agency pulled out of the project.
Later, the estate wing of VMC allocated tenders to contractors to maintain the parking system in the city, which is failing to yield any result.
Major roads in the city such as MG Road, Museum Road, Tikkle Road, Five Route, JD Hospital Road, and NTR Complex Centre are getting congested with the haphazard parking of vehicles.
In this context, VMC and the traffic wing of city police said they are taking measures to construct multistorey parking lots in busy commercial areas.
Police said a special drive will be conducted to curb the illegal parking and encroachments on the roads.
