ANANTNAG: In absence of proper parking space here in Anantnag town, some vital roads – some of them leading towards hospitals – remain choked with parked vehicles throughout the day putting the people of the town as well as visitors to utter inconvenience.
Apart from a couple of small parking lots, run by the local Municipal Council, the Anantnag town does not have any parking space whatsoever. The dearth of parking space forces the people to park their vehicles along some vital roads keeping them choked throughout the day.
These roads include the Mehandi Kadal-Janglat Mandi stretch which leads to the Anantnag district hospital. “A vital road link for ambulances the road is a nightmare to ply on for hundreds of vehicles remain parked on both sides of the road,” the locals lament.
The road has always been a busy one and to ease off traffic a by-pass was recently constructed. However, the by-pass, which starts at Sadder police station in Mehandi Kadal and leads to near District hospital, has also been turned into a parking lot.
“The by-pass road remains full with parked vehicles right at its entrance near the police station and the parked vehicles stretch up to almost a kilometer. The menace has spoiled the whole purpose of the by-pass,” the locals told Kashmir Reader.
The roads leading to Maternity and Children Hospital in Sherbagh area of the town are another casualty of the dearth of parking space. Every road leading to the hospital, be it the road through Lal-Chowk or the one through New Market remains choked making ambulances lose precious time in reaching the hospital.
The locals say that the shopkeepers in the area keep the footpaths occupied and whatever space is left is occupied by the hawkers in the area putting furthermore burden on the already congested roads.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Municipal Council Anantnag, Muhammad Ismail, told Kashmir Reader that the parking woes will soon ease off as a new mechanical parking lot is nearing completion.
“It is being constructed near the district hospital and I believe that it will greatly ease off the parking woes people face here,” the CEO said.
He however acknowledged that more needs to be done on this front and only one parking lot cannot be enough.

Suhail A Shah