Sir,

In the background of the ongoing debate on the issue of ‘Pay and Park’ proposed by the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), I would like to add a few points.

When Mr. Siddaraju was the Chairman of City Improvement Trust Board (CITB), now Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), land in the fourth and last stage of Devaraj Urs Road had been earmarked for construction of a ‘Pay and Park’ multi-storey structure bearing in mind the increasing number of vehicles moving on this prestigious road. Subsequently, this stretch of vacant land, including the piece earmarked for multi-storey parking facility, was auctioned with an eye on the revenue the commercial sites fetched to the Authority.

Subsequently, the MCC proposed a similar facility on Bidaram Krishnappa Road, near Narayana Sastry Road. This piece of land was being used for parking bullock carts selling firewood. With falling demand for firewood, this land was given away to a woman engaged in running schools for poor girls. I do not know whether this school is still functioning there. If it is not there, this place can be considered for building a parking facility to ease the congestion on the adjacent Devaraj Urs Road.

The authorities also mooted a proposal of constructing a parking facility on the then vacant land at the corner of Dewan’s Road, which was subsequently used for construction of Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan.

 This is how creating a parking facility nearer to Devaraj Urs Road was given a go-by with no serious concern about the pressing problem of parking on the city’s prestigious shopping area, depriving the shop-keepers and shoppers of a much-needed civic facility, for no fault of theirs. For a short-time benefit, a long-term advantage was sacrificed. 

The MCC and other authorities concerned should give, at least now, serious attention and find a suitable piece of land for constructing a parking facility somewhere around Devaraj Urs Road, including the piece of land which was given to run a private school. Till it materialises, parking should be provided at the parking facility being created at Town Hall or temporarily at the underground parking facility at Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan.

As far as the proposal to levy a fee for parking on Devaraj Urs Road, it will only lead to other issues, like vehicle congestion on the small roads around Devaraj Urs Road, complaints from residents of being unable to bring out their vehicles from their houses, obstruction of easy movement of people, including pedestrians, pollution etc. It will be just like shifting the problem from Devaraj Urs Road to these small lanes and by-lanes. As it is, indiscriminate and unregulated parking of vehicles is happening on these adjacent roads, like Dewan’s Road, Bidaram Krishnappa Road, Narayana Sastry Road, Shivarampet and the cross-roads there, particularly in the evenings.

Generally, the shop-keepers are blamed for occupying the parking space on Devaraj Urs Road. When I was the President of the Devaraj Urs Building Owners’ Association, our survey had shown that the shop-owners either came on their two-wheelers or took a drop to their shops in their four-wheelers and sent their vehicles back home. They did not want their own vehicle to block the space in front of their shops for shoppers coming to their shops. The fact was vehicle owners came from distant places in the city, parked their vehicles on Devaraj Urs Road and went to adjacent shopping places like Shivarampet and Devaraja Market. When this was pointed out to the then Corporation Commissioner with the details collected, the proposal of ‘Pay and Park’ mooted then also was dropped for good.

 – Gouri Satya, Sr. Journalist, Mysuru, 13.6.2023

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