Pune: Corporators from several wards, including from areas with large market pockets, recently raised concerns about lack of parking lots in Pune, which they said was leading to severe traffic congestion across the city.The corporators alleged that PMC had “ignored” the development of these parking lots, despite them being marked in the development plan as reserved parking areas or amenity spaces. The civic body operates 31 paid parking lots in the city, but almost all of them are overburdened, with no capacity to handle present demand. The corporators brought up the problem during a PMC general body meeting recently. They asked the civic body to immediately set up parking lots in the spaces marked in the DP.“Almost every road in central Pune is congested due to roadside parking,” said Ajay Khedekar, corporator from the Ghorpade Peth-Guruwar Peth ward.“There have been repeated follow-ups, but the administration has not developed the lots. These spaces have been encroached and are being wasted,” Khedekar said.Leader of opposition in PMC, Nilesh Nikam, said PMC began demolishing the JM Road vertical parking lot without developing more spaces along the stretch and on neighbouring FC Road.“We want PMC to set deadlines to develop parking spaces. The administration must understand that it is also losing revenue. Existing parking lots only have three to four floors. PMC can increase their capacity to accommodate more vehicles. There is lack of proper planning and policy,” Nikam said.Another corporator, Ajit Ghule, said fleecing by parking contractors was also a major problem.City engineer Aniruddha Pavaskar said a detailed survey was underway at locations with proposed parking lots. This survey, Pavaskar said, was set to conclude by Aug-end. PMC officials said they were also in the process of setting aside parking spaces near Metro stations.
