Jehangir Sofi
Srinagar, May 13: Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) on Saturday started the highly-anticipated 300-vehicle capacity parking zone in the Batamaloo area of the city. The facility was inaugurated by the Mayor Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattu, along with the Vice Chairman SDA, Harris Handoo.
Speaking to the media persons on the sidelines of the inaugural event, the Mayor said the parking will come as a big boost for the business community in the area.
“I can tell you there is a systematic, collective structural mechanism in place to meet the urban challenges of Srinagar, be it parking or urban mobility and we are hopeful that in coming times the infrastructural changes will bring betterment in the economic conditions for the business community,” he said.
Mattu further said, “We are starting a drive in Srinagar City to check on violations by those buildings that have been given commercial permissions and whose basements have been marked as parking zones but are being used as showrooms.”
Vice Chairman SDA said that the parking facility is not only a much-needed relief for the nearby shop owners of the Batamaloo area but also for the people who come to shop here. Now anybody can park their vehicles here, he said.
The parking zone is spread over six kanals of land and has a capacity of holding around three hundred vehicles. It is located in the interiors of Batamaloo.
Handoo said that SDA will be operating and executing the functioning of the new parking facility on its own. The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) extended its support in the development of the parking zone by macadamizing and fencing the area, he said.
