CGHS societies grabbing pedestrian space for car parking

Dwarka- Grabbing open space near societies and schools as parking is an emerging trend in Dwarka. This unauthorized parking can be witnessed at various Cooperative Group Housing Societies and schools. The management of these societies has turned footpaths and service lanes in front of the societies into visitor parking. Moreover, owing to the lack of parking spaces within the housing societies, residents are also using the open space outside the society to park their vehicles.

As per residents of Dwarka, neither the civic bodies nor the management seems serious about the ongoing practice of encroachment. The entire footpaths in front of the societies in many places can be seen full of vehicles. Sometimes, there is even a board on these footpaths with the message of parking declaring the particular encroached space as regular and authorised parking.

Rakesh Singh, a resident of Sector 5, says, “Many CGHS societies have occupied open space and footpaths in front of them for parking. This unauthorized parking has become so formalized that boards have been placed at entrance gates for parking. If someone without noticing the displayed board enters the society, he or she is asked by the security guards to take the vehicles outside and park them on the footpath. In this way, the societies in Dwarka have grabbed the footpaths in front of them as designated parking spaces for visitors.”

Moreover, some societies have made ramps too so that the vehicles could reach the footpaths at a higher level than the road.

SK Malik a resident of Sector 6, Youngsters Apartments said, “This practice is advantageous for societies as authorities do not take it seriously and there are no parking charges as well.”

The subject has become alarming and now even the green areas on footpaths have been converted into parking. Green spaces near societies are being developed into pucca surfaces to make ramps and to be used as parking spaces.

Most of the internal lanes of the various sectors of Dwarka are victims of this 'concretisation'. This can be seen across all sectors of Dwarka. On the stretch along the road number 201 towards Sector 6 through the cut of Sector 2/6,  green areas on both sides of the road adjacent to residential stretches have been converted into concrete patches and vehicles can be seen parked on the footpaths. The remains of grass can be seen in these cemented stretches proving that the area was once green.

On this, Rejimon CK from Sector 22 says, “Such a trend is very sad for the city. I have written several letters to the concerned authorities on the subject of footpaths, roads and green areas but nothing effective has been done yet. Such concretisation is decreasing space for rainwater harvesting.”

After talking to the management of societies and understanding the condition, CitySpidey found that most societies do not have enough parking space with the housing societies anymore due to the high occupancy rates and multiple vehicles owned by residents. In Dwarka, there are more than 300 societies(CGHS) and hence for such a large occupancy, the management of the societies are finding it easy to use the open spaces outside them as parking.

CitySpidey has been closely reporting parking issues in Dwarka to raise the matter with civic agencies like DDA and Municipal Corporation.