GUWAHATI: Parking in the Fancy Bazar old jail premises remains closed and the area has not been accessible over the last couple of months. The parking was closed after the Ambubachi Mela created trouble for the visitors.
The site was open during the mela because three camps were set up at the Fancy Bazar old jail site to accommodate 20,000 devotees.
A senior officer from Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) speaking to G Plus on the condition of anonymity said, “The parking is closed because GMDA has no plans to extend the area for parking purpose, and that land was not allotted to become a parking place for the residents and the visitors on a permanent basis. It was just temporary parking that was provided and the land belongs to the jail authority.”
He added, “We are planning to develop a botanical garden for the city in the old jail premise. This will also have a separate space allotted for parking.”
The source said that although the plan of turning the old jail premises into a botanical garden has been on since 2016, the garden however will be open for the citizens in the mid of 2021. “The work related to tendering and architects for the same would be visiting the place for preparing the plan on the botanical garden during the month of October and November. And the construction would start during the month of December,” he mentioned.
A shopkeeper from Fancy Bazar told G Plus, “Due to lack of parking space our sales have gone really low. Back when the jail premise was allotted for parking, people were tension-free about their vehicles but now they are always in a hurry to leave because of the uncertainty of GMC people towing the vehicle.”
He added “We would like to request the concerned authority to do something about the parking problem. I have been a resident of Fancy Bazar for a long time and the parking issue is creating a lot of mess now. We, as a family, own three vehicles and parking them again becomes an issue for us on day-to-day basis.”
The commercial activities is huge in Fancy Bazar and due to lack of parking space people are less likely to walk in for shopping which has bad hit their sales. Nowadays stores offer exclusive parking for their customers so that they can be tension free and need not look for a safe place for their vehicle. That however is impossible in Fancy Bazar.
Farzana, a citizen of Guwahati, told G Plus, “I was very reluctant when I was asked to accompany my granny and mom to Fancy Bazar for sari shopping. I did ask them to shop from any shopping mall rather than visiting there. Every cab driver hesitates to accept a pickup and drop from Fancy Bazar.”
The citizen was also very aware of the fact that parking could solve a lot of problems in the related area.
The entire Fancy Bazar doesn’t have parking which makes it really difficult for people to commute in the area. The roads are already narrow and if people want to park on the roadsides it becomes very congested and creates a lot of traffic snarls.
Street vendors are also targeted in Fancy Bazar; they are repeatedly asked to move when the police are out on patrols. The vendors have a hard time managing and even their profits and earnings take a hit because of lack of space and the constant shifts that they need to make.
A resident from Fancy Bazar told G Plus, “The GMDA should allocate space to the residents and visitors till the work of the garden and adjacent parking is complete. The space would be operational in the middle of 2021 and an alternative should be provided as soon as possible to facilitate the commuting of people in the area.”
