5 days ago
- Automotive
- New Indian Express
Two years on, Kovai's dedicated parking policy still stuck in neutral
COIMBATORE: More than two years after a parking policy was collaboratively announced by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) and city police, the initiative still remains on paper. Aimed at bringing order to the city's chaotic parking situation, it has seen little progress despite detailed studies and consultations.
In 2022, the CCMC roped in the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), an NGO specialising in sustainable transport solutions, to conduct a city-wide feasibility study for implementing paid on-street parking. The project was expected to begin in RS Puram and Race Course, with Coimbatore set to become the second city after Chennai in the state to have a dedicated parking policy.
A stakeholders' meeting and workshop involving the CCMC, ITDP, police officials, traffic experts, and social activists was held on November 18, 2022, to chart the path forward. Experts submitted a comprehensive report to the civic body, and the plan was slated for inclusion in CCMC's 2023 annual budget.
However, the report has since been shelved, and no policy has been implemented. Meanwhile, unregulated parking has worsened in the city with cars and two-wheelers routinely occupying footpaths and main roads, putting pedestrians at risk and adding to the traffic congestion.
"For years, we've been urging the CCMC to mark dedicated parking zones and strictly enforce no-parking areas," said S Vivin Saravan, a Coimbatore-based social activist. "But delays like this only make the problem worse. Footpaths are for people, not for vehicles. Every day we wait, we are compromising pedestrian safety and worsening traffic jams."
