Staff Reporter
The motorists urged parking space in the Cantonment limits as they have to face problem to get parking space in the main bazaar and they had no option but to park their vehicles on main roads.
“We have to park the vehicle wherever we find space,” Talking to media, said Mohammad Anwar, a visitor to the bazaar.
“Parking in the Saddar is a difficult job. It will take more than an hour to find a vacant place to park vehicle. I parked the vehicle in front of a shopping mall as there was no parking in its basement,” said Mohammad Bilal, a visitor to Adamjee Road.
Several visitors were of the view that encroachments had reduced roads in Saddar to narrow strips.
“People parked their vehicle and motorcycles on both sides of Chotta Bazaar leaving very limited space to drive on,” Waseem Ahmed, a visitor to the road said.
Commercial plazas in Saddar have failed to allocate parking space for visitors. According to the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board’s (RCB) building bylaws, a commercial building on The Mall with more than two floors must allocate 25 feet in the front and the basement for parking. On Bank Road, a commercial building should leave 10 feet in front and the basement for parking.
However, commercial buildings in both areas have converted their basements into shops, and the RCB has failed to enforce the rules for traders.
On Bank Road, Singapore Plaza, which have mobile phone shops, has encroached on road between Bank Road and Adamjee Road, and converted the road into a parking area.
The road connecting Bank Road with Haider Road in front of Ghakkar Plaza has also been converted into a parking area, without the RCB’s permission. He said such violations were also visible in Babu Mohallah, but the RCB’s action was limited to shopkeepers and small traders.
“The common man should adopt all the parking bylaws, but the influential can get approval for commercial buildings without parking.”
