The only parking lot at Qutab Road in North Delhi’s Sadar Bazar area, which had a capacity to park over 1,000 vehicles, has been closed down as the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has handed over this land to the Railways.
The move will worsen the parking woes and throw the traffic out of gear owing to the shortage of parking space in Sadar Bazar area, said residents.
According to the latest developments, North Delhi Municipal Corporation officials have constructed a boundary wall to give the land to the Delhi Division of Northern Railways. Sadar Bazar Traders’ Association general secretary Dev Raj Baweja said, “Around 800 vehicles have been thrown out of parking lot. They have dug the entire area. We have been agitating against the closure of the parking site, we even today maintained that the parking lot should not be closed whether railway runs it or MCD does. If our voices remain unheard, we will go to the Court.”
However, MCD Councillor Pinki Jain said the entire parking area has not been closed. “Only half the land has been given to railways, whereas the other half will still remain for the parking purpose,” Jain said.
In a bid to complete the Rani Jhansi grade separator project, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation needed more land for which they took two land portions at separate locations from the Railways. In exchange, the civic body paid Rs28 crore and gave another land which is being used as parking lot at Qutab Road, i.e. Sadar Bazar’s parking lot.
“As we have been constructing a flyover at Rani Jhashi road, it required additional land. We took two plots of land at separate locations from the Railways. In lieu of these lands, we have paid Rs 28 crore and have given another land which is being used as parking lot at Qutab road,” PK Gupta, Commissioner of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation had said.
Meanwhile, sources said the Railway authority had demanded Rs 98 crore additional amount but the cash-strapped civic agency failed to make payment. Following which, agency decided to hand over land ownership.
“This is the only parking available for Sadar Bazar area, closure to this site shall have ill effects on the traffic situation, which can go out of control. This would not only choke the entire North district area but would also be an open invitation for law and order problem in the area,” Baweja added.
The parking lot is spread over 7,000 sq metre and has a capacity to park over 1,000 vehicles daily. The only parking area located nearby is Idgah parking lot, half a kilometer away which is already dotted with several vehicles. Traders and shopkeepers are worried as the Railways has demanded an “absolute vacant land” and removal of all vehicles by November 30.
The parking lot has had a long history of North MCD-Railway tussle. Back in 1996, this area, which was then a vacant land of Railways, was used to park cars. The same year the area grabbed headlines following a horrific bomb blast which took away many lives. “Keeping in mind the space crunch to park cars and the security threat to this area as it was not a proper parking lot, lt Governor Najeeb Jung asked the civic body to build a proper parking lot on this vacant land,” said Baweja.
“Instead of constructing more parking lots in this area that is virtually clogged with traffic, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has made the situation worse by transferring the Qutab Road land to the Railways. They could have given any other land to the Railways. By November 30, the tender of this parking will be over and the land will be handed over to the Railways,” said an official.