KOCHI: Shrinking space for parking vehicles and increased surveillance by the authorities have prompted traders on MG Road to press the panic button.
MG Road Merchants Association will soon submit an official request to the Kochi Corporation, Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), and Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. (KMRL) to identify a common multi-level parking space for vehicles entering the busy stretch, on a piece of land owned by the agencies. With the police slapping chalans on cars parked on either side of the road, traders fear that customers will think twice before shopping on MG Road.
“We are ready to make arrangements to take visitors from the common multi-level parking space to the shops if the land identified is close to the stretch. An official proposal will soon be submitted to the Kochi Corporation, GCDA, and KMRL to identify a piece of land where customers’ vehicles can be parked,” said Rajesh Nair, secretary of MG Road Merchants Association.
Maintaining that the revival of MG Road as Kochi’s business destination would not be possible without addressing parking woes, Deepak L. Aswani, co-chair of FICCI Kerala State Council, said the situation along the stretch had worsened, especially as Chittoor Road and TD Road could not handle the increasing traffic flow. “This was the reason behind our opposition to an earlier proposal to introduce one-way traffic along MG Road,” he added.
Pointing out that parking inside the white line on either side of the road would attract fine, Nazeer M.A., Assistant Commissioner, Traffic (West), Ernakulam, said the tarred space inside the white line formed part of the road and hence, vehicles could not be parked there. “With the metro work progressing, MG Road has turned into a four-lane stretch, and parking is not permitted either on the footpath or in the tarred space inside the white line,” he added.
Meanwhile, traffic officials said it was the responsibility of traders to provide parking space to customers, and that they could not use the road to park vehicles. “The civic body should grant licence to shops after ensuring that adequate parking space is available. Often, these spaces are converted into business areas, forcing the public to park vehicles on the road,” they said.
