Absence of parking spaces triggering traffic snarls in city

Dehradun: Lack of proper parking facilities in Doon’s busy market areas has made traffic snarls a perennial problem in the city. While most of the commercial places in Dehradun do not have designated parking spaces within the market areas, even the shopping complexes in the city do not offer adequate parking space to visitors. People who visit the market areas generally park their four and two wheelers along the roadside, leading to traffic jams.The issue gets accentuated during tourist and festive seasons.
Dehradun has 30 temporary parking spots and 55 basement parking spots. Among the 30 temporary spots, 21 are smart parking areas. The city also has two designated free parking spaces for women which hardly get any takers.
However, these spaces fail to fulfill the parking needs of the district which boasts of a population of over 16 lakh. Besides public transport, more than 6 lakh registered private two-wheelers and nearly 2.6 lakh registered private cars ply the roads of the district.
“It’s really difficult to find a parking space in the city these days, especially in localities like the Big Bazaar, Gandhi park, Paltan Bazar and even around many shopping complexes near Chakrata road. This is why I prefer shopping online rather than going to shopping complexes,” Swati Rawat, a resident of Bengali Library Road locality, told TOI.
Expressing similar concerns, Vikrant Tongad, a city resident, told TOI, “I used to take my car for visiting market areas but could never find a parking space. So, I started using my scooter, but even then I fail to find a parking spot sometimes. And the worst is when my two-wheeler gets blocked by cars in such a manner that I struggle to take it out.” When queried about the matter, Sanjeevan Soongtha, MDDA system administrator, said that MDDA only sanctions the building maps which have parking facility and having a parking space is mandatory for shopping complexes and multistorey buildings. “We even inspect complexes on random basis to ensure they are following norms,” he added.
Another MDDA official, claimed that “large number of vehicles and poor traffic rule implementation are the major reasons behind parking woes in the city.” “Even when parking space is available, people avoid using it to save parking charges.”