Panchsheel Greens row over parking space

Streamlining of parking rules proved a dampener for the peace in Panchsheel Greens, a high-rise in Greater Noida West. The society is embroiled in an unseemly controversy with some residents calling the move arbitrary. 

On Sunday afternoon, a group of residents came out in protest against the move. Their contention was that they were not taken into confidence before introducing the new parking rules. 

The protesters further alleged that parking space was being sold without prior approval of Greater Noida Authority. 

Jitendra Jha, a resident said, "The management should have convened a meeting where the residents could give their opinions. But it did not happen. Hence, the management had a free run to take such an arbitrary decision, which has set a wrong precedent." 

So far, there was no fixed rule for parking management in the society and the residents were allowed to park their vehicles wherever they pleased. Hence, many of them could be able to grab more than one parking slots. Eventually, the management was forced to streamline the parking rules.

While earmarking the parking space, the management decided to sell out the extra parking space, occupied by the privileged residents, for around Rs 1.50 lakh. It did not go down well with those who had occupied more space than their share. 

Manish Awasthi, another resident, said, "This highhandedness would make more confusion as those not allotted parking space under their own towers will find it difficult to park their cars. It is being done for the sake of money and therefore, we decided to oppose the move." 

On the other hand, the management was of the view that there have been no systematic parking rules in the society and an initiative has been taken to streamline it.

Justifying the move, Vikash Kumar, president of Apartment Owners Association (A0A) of Panchsheel Greens, said, "Many of the residents had acquired more than one parking slot. The idea behind the decision to move was to streamline the system." 

He further said that the residents had paid for their parking space and are allotted accordingly. Those who had been using extra space without paying for it, they now have to pay. And that there was nothing wrong in it.