RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Commissioner, Liaquat Ali Chattha, has developed a plan to address the increasing problem of car parking in the garrison city.
According to sources, the plan includes constructing three additional floors on the parking plaza at Fawara Chowk, opening a new parking site, and restoring the free-parking facility in the basements of 38 big plazas.
Sources have reported that cases will be registered against those who do not restore approved parking spaces, and plazas will be sealed.
Commissioner Chattha took notice of the growing traffic problems caused by parking on the streets connected to the inner city, Murree Road, Commercial Market, and other business centers, and the deteriorating cleanliness situation causing immense difficulties for pedestrians.
Under the plan, the only parking plaza of the Rawalpindi Development Authority at Fawara Chowk will have 3 additional floors constructed to make it the largest parking facility in the neighborhood.
Furthermore, illegal parking spaces on Liaquat Road, Iqbal Road, Jinnah Road, Ganj Mandi, Kashmiri Bazar, and Raja Bazar roads will also be eliminated.
A letter has been sent to the Auqaf Department to acquire land on Ghazni Road to establish a new parking site, and another open parking site has been set up on the plot of the former municipal corporation office.
The plan also includes constructing a parking plaza on one more parking site available in the Commercial Market, demolishing the ancient Bani market, and constructing a spacious parking plaza in Bani Chowk.
Besides, Chattha has issued notices to the owners of 38 plazas to restore their basement parking without delay, or their plazas will be sealed, and cases will be filed against them.
To tackle the issue of parking in the inner city, the practice of lifting illegally parked vehicles on all roads by lifters and returning the vehicle after paying a heavy fine will be implemented after Eid.
