Parking spaces in 60 per cent of apartments and commercial establishments in the city is being misused, according to a rough estimate by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).
It is being used for commercial purposes, a deviation from the approved plan. As a result, people have to park their vehicles on the road outside the apartments. Also, commercial establishments with basement parking and open area parking spaces are flouting norms.
On Monday, the BMC came up with a stricture that if parking norms are not followed within a month of issue of the notice, the establishment will be sealed.
“We took the step on coming across blatant violation of norms. It is worrying that despite having parking space approved in the original plan, cars are found outside and on roads. This is leading to traffic problems and giving a cluttered look to the city. It also makes the road prone to accidents,” said BMC commissioner Vijay Kulange.
Senior architect Sanjib Guru said according to building by-laws for residential buildings, 30 per cent of the built-up areas should be earmarked for parking and in case of commercial establishment, it is 40 per cent. Places where people congregate like movie halls, community centres, convention halls and marriage mandaps, 60 per cent parking space should be kept aside, he said.
In Bhubaneswar, the BMC stopped charging of parking fee by malls in 2019. They were charging as per their convenience. But the civic body stopped the practice on grounds that commercial establishments can’t charge any fee for mandatory parking spaces. Owners of malls and commercial establishments switched to commercial practices in parking areas after they couldn’t charge parking fee, a source said.
