GHMC itself fights for parking space

As the city gets congested, finding space for parking vehicles has become a laborious task. To fix this, the GHMC has plans of constructing multi-level parking lots at various places. But even before that could materialise, the corporation has to address parking issues at its own backyard. One of the proposals is to demolish a part of the GHMC main building and use the space for parking


At Hill Fort Road, right outside the GHMC office, there are a myriad of vehicles which are parked on either side of the roads. This method of erratic parking has affected the flow of traffic on two major streets: one being Liberty- Abids Road and the other is the free-left, in front of the GHMC building. The cars that are parked on the road, not only belong to the general public who visit the corporation but also to the corporators.

Recently during an inspection Somesh Kumar, Commissioner, GHMC, had reportedly remarked that the civic body requires more parking space. He ordered R Dhan Singh, engineer-in-chief, to draw up plans for an extended parking lot. The commissioner suggested that a part of the GHMC office could be demolished and the offices, which would come in the line of fire, would be shifted to top floors.

Dhan Singh said, “A plan has been laid out to expand the parking space for additional accommodation. But this is still only on paper.”

But there’s a glitch for this face-lift to go ahead. It has to be accredited by the Standing Committee. If the committee doesn’t pass the resolution for the makeover, this would remain a pipe dream. Singireddy Srinivas Reddy, TDP Floor Leader, GHMC says, “This is in the greater interest of the public and every building must reserve 60 per cent parking space. When the commissioner noticed this, he asked for a plan to be laid out in this regard. If the resolution is passed, the ground floor would be demolished and additional two floors would be constructed atop the eighth floor. The offices in the ground floor would be shifted there. It will take another 4-5 months for this plan to materialise as the standing committee as there is a lot of disparity with regard to the mayor’s post and budget allocations for the year 2014-15.”

As of now, no tenders have been finalised nor has there been any budget allocation done for this project.
Diddi Rambabu, Congress Floor Leader, GHMC, concurs with his TDP counterpart. He said that if it were to be put in the standing committee, he would agree to it as it was for the greater good. “The authorities have dedicated parking spots but what about the general public they deserve a place to park their vehicles too. The GHMC office in Abids has a good parking lot we would urge them to do the same with this building too. But due to the lack of a financial draft we cannot decide on the resolution.”

It may be recalled that the Congress Corporators have boycotted the Standing Committee Meeting on Saturday, as they were not given a copy of the financial draft for the year 2014-2015. “Only after we see the budget, can we decide on something. Until then, there is nothing concrete in this regard,” said Rambabu.