By:Himvani
Himachal Pradesh department of tourism has already developed 52 new parking lots in different parts of the state where as work on 15 others are in progress.
Replying private member business resolution of the congress member, Ms. Asha Kumari, Mr. Virbhadra Singh who had portfolio of tourisms said that development of parking for large number of vehicles merged herculean task, as infrastructure for this purpose needs to be developed with the pace of growth and requirements of time.
“I would like apprising the honorable house that different departments of the government like tourism, urban development, town and country planning, PED, transport etc have already started working in this direction. The department is also working on providing bayside amenities in Shivalik and Dhauladhar circuits. In addition to these mega parking’s at Shimla, Dharamsala and Dalhousie are being made. Being capital of the state and an important tourist destination, parking for about 2500 vehicles is being made in different parts of Shimla town. I am pleased to inform that the department of tourism is preparing a 20-year perspective tourism master plan in which parking for and wayside amenities are the major components. HPIDB is also examining development of 13 parking sites in PPP mode in different parts of the state. We have kept a budget provision of Rupees 15 crore this year for parking facilities for supporting 50 percent of the project cost. The government is examining the proposal of multi-level parking in shopping complexes and big buildings” Virbhadra Singh added.
“There is a need of strict enforcement of mandatory parking in buildings abutting roads. It is true that with the increase in vehicles, we have to plan for parking facilities not only in the state and district level but parking facilities need to be provided at micro level also. Keeping this in view, a proposal has been submitted to Government of India for developing parking sat district and sub division level through out the state. This issue concerns various agencies and a coordinated effort would be required to overcome the problem as issues concerning land, funding, forest clearances etc need to be settled for developing new parking lots” confirm the Chief Minister.
He said that necessary mapping for this purpose shall be done and urban development department shall be the oral department and shall submit the report in a time bound manner.
