Parking space crunch in Dwarka DDA pockets a failure of DDA planning
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Parking space crunch in Dwarka DDA pockets a failure of DDA planning

In the present scenario, most of the residential societies do not have designated parking spaces

Parking space crunch in Dwarka DDA pockets a failure of DDA planning

Lack of car parking space has become one of the biggest issues for the residential pockets of DDA across Dwarka. In about 50 such pockets across the sub-city, lack of parking space is an issue being faced by the residents every day. It has also become a constant cause of chaos, conflicts, altercations, and heartburns in the daily lives of the community people.

In the present scenario, most of the residential societies do not have designated parking spaces for individual flats. As a result, the residents have no other option but to park their vehicles either on the sides of internal roads or outside their residential pockets, on footpaths. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) pockets where parking space has been provided under the housing scheme are suffering a lot too due to a lack of parking space and an ever-increasing number of vehicles per housing unit. Under the circumstances footpaths, common open spaces, residential society parks, and even half of the roads inside the residential pockets are being used as parking spaces.

Vehicles parked in the open space and on a road in a DDA pocket

Experts say that when the DDA designed these residential pockets it did not envisage the number of parking spaces that would be needed in the future. As a result, no provisions for vehicular parking were planned. As the number of vehicles increased so did the chaos. General secretary of RWA, DDA SFS Flats Sector 5, Mahesh Gupta says, “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 flats are in that position where they can afford cars. So the number of cars increased and those scooter garages are of no use or are being used as storerooms. In this situation, where the residents have cars but no designated parking space, the open spaces in the housing pocket premises are used for parking.”

A park used as a parking spot

DDA has constructed several pockets of HIG, MIG, LIG, and Janta flats across Dwarka. The DDA plans have kept provisions for car parking spaces in many such residential pockets. Also in the multistoried societies of DDA like Smariddhi Apartments and Golf Link apartments among others, there are underground parking spaces. But there are HIG and MIG flats where available parking spaces are not used as car parks. In many instances, parking spaces have been given by the owners on rent or have also been sold out which on the other hand is not allowed by the DDA by-laws.  Besides the unauthorised constructions and encroachment of open spaces inside the pockets in the connivance with RWAs and the authorities, parking problems have been aggravating across the city. Now the RWAs have also started using the open space outside the societies as parking lots. R.K Singh a resident of Sector 12 says, “Now the societies are hanging boards in service lanes, carrying announcements that a particular service lane is a dedicated parking space for the society. Earlier one could see such boards on many residential society gates that the visitors to the society must park their vehicles outside the society. But now these boards are showing messages laying claim to the footpaths or service lane as parking space for the society residents. One can see such boards with the logo of Delhi Police too which is not a legal practice and it must be taken into notice by the authorities concerned.”

In DDA pockets with smaller flats such as LIG and Janta flats pockets in Dwarka the number of residential flats is very high and now, so are the number of vehicles. During the planning stage, the DDA planners did not anticipate that the people living here would ever own a car. That is why those pockets are without defined parking space in the plan. In such a scenario the residents of these pockets do not have any other option but to park their cars in the common open public spaces, service lanes, and footpaths.

Credits: CitySpidey

All said, it is clear that with its rapidly growing population the Dwarka sub-city will continue to face even harder car parking space crunch and the DDA residential pocket would in particular face a big challenge in this regard.