Even as parking woes continue in Mysuru and is likely to aggravate when Dasara nears with sudden jump in tourist vehicles, the management of Mysuru zoo has come forward to manage parking at the Dasara expo grounds if the place was handed over to it by the Karnataka Exhibition Authority (KEA).
The zoo’s parking facility cannot handle the rush of tourist vehicles (as seen on August 13, 14 and 15 with over 50,000 footfall recorded in three days) and the vehicles of zoo visitors were directed to park at the grounds with no space available at the zoo parking.
As sometimes tourists struggle to park their vehicles, with no proper parking management in the vicinity, the zoo management wrote to the KEA authorities here to consider giving the management of parking at the grounds to it on a fixed rent.
“There has been no reply so far to our letter. We can manage parking professionally. The parking lot in front of the zoo is not large enough to accommodate several hundreds of vehicles. The vehicles are often parked on the grounds or on the bylanes of the nearby areas in case tourists don’t get parking. If the parking is professionally run, the woes can be addressed professionally to some extent,” said Zoo Executive Director Ajit Kulkarni.
In fact, the Zoo Authority of Karnataka (ZAK) and the Karnataka Exhibition Authority (KEA), a few years ago, had resolved to develop a new parking facility for tourist vehicles on a 12-acre plot at Dasara Exhibition Grounds here. In collaboration with the Department of Tourism, a one-stop tourist plaza with ticketing, restaurant and other tourist-friendly facilities were planned. The initiative did not make any headway and the parking woes continued in the central business district.
The insufficient parking space in the city’s commercial hubs is exposed every year during the Dasara festivities. With this year’s festivities going to be a grand affair, the authorities have to plan for vehicle parking well in advance as the turnout could be much larger as the last two years’ celebrations were a low-key affair.
The problem is particularly severe on D. Devaraj Urs Road, the shopping hub of Mysuru. Parking space is scarce even with the intermediate roads turning into parking lots of sorts in the absence of a pay and park system and multi-level parking facilities.
When contacted, Mayor (in-charge) Sunanda Palanetra said the Mysuru City Corporation is aware of the problem and the issue will be brought to the notice of Minister in-charge of Mysuru district S.T. Somashekar, who is expected to chair a meeting soon to discuss about Dasara preparations.
She said efforts are being made to ensure parking on the Town Hall premises during Dasara. “The matter will also be discussed in the Minister’s meeting,” she said.
MLA L. Nagendra inspected the Town Hall surroundings on Tuesday.
