Provide parking or rooms will be sealed- HC to Nainital hotels

The Uttarakhand High Court today asked hotels in Nainital to provide 60 per cent parking space to vehicles in proportion to the number of rooms they have else 50 per cent of their rooms will be frozen.
To deal with frequent traffic jam in the tourist town, the HC directed the regional and state transport authorities to not issue any further permit for plying taxi to Nainital.
The Court also ordered no new guest houses/hotels etc be registered under the Sarai Act or Tours and Travel Registration Act 2016 if the 60 per cent criterion is not met.
Nainital has suffered the worst of traffic jams of late. DS Patni, the advocate who represents the Nagar Palika, said an estimated 4,000 cars and 16,000 two-wheelers enter Nainital per day.

Around 3,000 odd vehicles remain on the road as parking space is available for 800 to 1,000 vehicles only.
A division bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice UC Dhyani directed that existing hotels must also provide for 60 per cent parking of the total rooms or else 50 percent of the rooms will be frozen.

A team of ADM, SP, EO Nagar Palika and a member of the Hotel Association will maintain a register for the purpose.
District Magistrate Dipendra Chaudhary informed the court several steps have been taken to address the traffic jam issue, including developing additional parking place for 500 vehicles.

The lake bridge tax toll booth will be shifted from the Tallital rickshaw stand to Haldwani road near Hanumangarh to allow free flow of traffic in the town.