Coimbatore Corporation to crack whip on shops sans parking lot:

City corporation commissioner M Prathap on Thursday said the civic body would issue notices to the shops on commercial streets at RS Puram and Race Course that do not offer parking space, while drawing a large number of customers.

He said they would conduct a check to ascertain the shops attracting more vehicles and whether they were offering adequate parking space to their customers. “The shops without a parking lot, despite a huge customer base, will be asked to create one.”

Generally, a shop should have a dedicated parking lot for its customers. Many shops, however, use the space earmarked for parking for commercial activities, leaving no space or a little for the customers.

“Some shops have not allocated a dedicated space for parking. They should find a suitable place nearby and set up a parking lot,” another official said.

The corporation commissioner said a few shops were in the process of creating a parking space after officials issued notices to them. “Notices will be issued to the remaining stores in the coming days.”

He said the consultants, who were appointed to come up with a parking management system plan for RS Puram and Race Course areas, had submitted their reports.

They have identified places where paid and free parking lots could be introduced, and the places to be turned into parking zones. We will consult the city police to decide where to implement the parking management system first. The work will start after that.”

Meanwhile, Prathap said, they would improve the parking infrastructure at both the places. “We will operationalize the multi-level car parking lot on DB Road in a full-fledged manner.” Pointing out that heavy vehicles were causing traffic bottlenecks at some of the congested commercial stretches in the city, he said the issue would be taken up with the city traffic police officials for a solution.