Cong stages protest to highlight Delhi's parking issue

Raising the issue of lack of parking space in the national capital, Congress activists today staged a protest against the BJP-led municipal corporations outside an underconstruction multi-level parking lot in west Delhi's Subhash Nagar.
Led by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Maken, party workers said the multi-level parking lot had been underconstruction for last five years and accused the South Delhi Municipal Corporation of missing several deadlines.
"The contract for the construction of a multi-level parking at Block 10 of Subhash Nagar was to be completed in 15 months, which was given to a private company for Rs 30.50 crore on December 30, 2009. But even after five years, work on the parking lot has not been completed," Maken said.

"Due to water accumulation at the construction site, the buildings near the under construction parking lot are under serious threat of damage," he added.
Congress also alleged that there were many multi-level parking lots in Delhi where construction work had been stopped, causing tremendous problems to the people.
"UPA government had prepared the Master Plan for Delhi in 2007, in which provision was made for the mixed land use of many roads for commercial purposes.

"Central Government had allotted crores of rupees for multi-level parking system under the JNNRUM scheme, to find a lasting solution to the parking problems in Delhi," he said.

Blaming MCD, Maken said they have collected crores of rupees from all the shopkeepers falling under the mixed land use zone as conversion charges and parking charges against provided facilities like parking, but work on all such multi-level parking projects continued to be in a limbo.
"MCD will have to answer to the people of Delhi where has the money given by the central government and charges collected from people as conversion and parking disappeared.
"They do not have money to pay wages of sanitation staff and pensions to widow, old age and handicapped," Maken said.
Hitting out at AAP-led Delhi government, he said that though it claimed it had no money, funds were being splurged on radio advertisements for glorification of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"AAP Government was misusing the tax-payers' money for false propaganda to beat its own drum," Maken said.