Inadequate parking spaces bogging down Mussoorie roads

MUSSOORIE: With haphazardly parked vehicles grabbing almost every bit of open space on the town’s major and arterial roads, traffic congestion has become a perennial issue for Mussoorie residents. Due to the absence of parking places, people are forced to park their vehicles on the roadside occupying almost half of the road and making it difficult for vehicles to ply.

The issue gets accentuated during tourist and festive seasons.


According to Uttarakhand traffic directorate, the town has parking space for 1592 cars and 14 buses and an additional parking space for 260 cars is created during tourist seasons. However, residents claim that as the number of four-wheelers owned by local residents is close to 2000 and around 700 commercial taxis ply on city roads, the parking space is completely inadequate. Further, during peak tourist season, the town sees an influx of around 3000 vehicles. “There is an acute shortage of parking spaces in the city. Leave alone for the tourists, the existing parking lots do not provide sufficient space for locals. This leads to roadside parking which further triggers traffic chaos,” Rajat Aggarwal, president of Mussoorie Traders’ Association, told TOI.

Bereft of parking spaces, residents, travelers, and office-goers park vehicles on roadside and with an increase in the population and the volume of business in the city, the situation is gradually becoming more severe.

It is also worth mentioning that amidst this backdrop, the construction of a large parking space at Kincraig by Public Works Department (PWD) has been delayed by over a year. This under-construction parking space will have a capacity of 212 vehicles. Its construction was initiated in 2016 with a financial outlay of Rs 30 crore.

“The construction of this parking space was to be completed in 2018 but the PWD is not even halfway through as yet,” Badal Prakash, a member of Landour Cantonment Board, told TOI.

When TOI contacted PWD officials regarding the delay, Sansar Chand, junior engineer of PWD admitted that the work has been delayed due to various reasons but assured that the parking would be completed by March, 2020.

Meanwhile, residents and tourists allege that current parking lot operators charge exorbitantly especially during tourist season when people are deperate to get any space to park their vehicles.

Last month, an inspection led by SDM Mussoorie had revealed that parking norms are being blatantly flouted by private parking operators. These parking lots do not have CCTV cameras and do not even provide any public utilities for drivers.

Speaking to TOI, chairman of Mussoorie Municipal Council (MMC) Anuj Gupta, said that the MMC has finalised the detailed project reports for construction of three new parking lots at Picture Palace, Gandhi Chowk and at Civil Hospital. “These parking spaces will be constructed in three phases and they shall accommodate around 500 vehicles. While MMC shall soon initiate phase 1, the other two phases will be taken up after receiving financial support from the state government,” Gupta added.