Dwarka: Parking issues aggravate in DDA pockets due to improper planning

Dwarka: Parking has become one of the biggest issues for the residential pockets of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) across Dwarka. Residents of nearly 50 pockets across the city under DDA face the issue of parking every day.

The current situation is chaotic. Most of the societies do not have designated parking spaces mentioned under the scheme and residents are forced to park their vehicles on the road. Those DDA pockets where parking is provided are also suffering a lot due to the lack of parking space and the increasing number of vehicles.

As a result, footpaths, open spaces, parks, and even half of the roads inside the societies are being used as parking spaces. Experts say that the DDA parking scheme lacked planning and provisions to compensate for the increasing number of vehicles.

General secretary of RWA, DDA SFS Flats Sector 5, Mahesh Gupta said, “This is also a failure of planning and execution by DDA. When they allotted the flats, they gave a scooter garage as per the scheme for MIG flats. Now with time, the people who took MIG are in a condition where they can afford a car. So the number of cars has increased and those scooter garages have become redundant or are being used as a storeroom. In the situation of having cars and no designated parking space, the open spaces in the premises are used for parking.”

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The DDA has made HIG, MIG, LIG, and Janta Flats across Dwarka. According to officials and DDA schemes, there are spaces for car parking in many pockets. Moreover, multistoried societies of DDA like Smariddhi Apartments, Golf Link apartments, etc have underground parking spaces. But there are HIG and MIG flats parking spaces that are not used and have been given by the owners on rent or have been sold out which is in fact against the DDA by-laws.

Besides, the unauthorised constructions and encroachment of open spaces inside the pockets in the connivance of RWAs and the authorities, parking problems have aggravated. Now the RWAs have also started using the open space outside the societies to manage parking.

RK Singh, a resident of Sector 14 said, “The situation is growing critical as almost all the flats have been converted from MIG to HIG by grabbing open space. This practice has covered the open space and so parking spaces are shrinking. Nobody is there to think upon and to take action including civic authorities like SDMC or DDA.”