Pulwama, August 17: With no parking space available in South Kashmir’s Pulwama, the visitors are finding it difficult to travel through the main market here.
According to the local residents and visitors, Pulwama town has no parking space available for the private vehicles. “Visitors who come here for shopping are not able to park their vehicles in front of shops as the same are being towed and seized by the Municipal Committee Pulwama,” they added.
Pulwama town witnesses a heavy rush of visitors throughout the day with people from different areas of the district travelling here. Main Chowk and Murran Chowk in Pulwama town are the busiest among several other Chowks of the town.
A visitor, Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, 24, said “Whenever I visit the town for doing shopping with my family, I have to remain present in my vehicle as there is no space allotted for parking here.”
Another visitor, Imran Ahad, echoed the same views saying that I park my car nearly a half km away from the town as there is no paid parking spaces available in the market area and sometimes I have no option but to park my vehicle front of residential gates.
Bashir Ahmad an elderly man said, “Both the concerned authorities and shopkeepers are to be held responsible for this mélange because while constructing the shopping complexes and shops they should have made parking spaces available for the shoppers and the government should have made it compulsory for the shopping complex owners to reserve an area for the parking space.”
When contacted Traders President Pulwama, Nisar Ahmad, he said, “We have already raised the issue several times with the administration but they are not taking it serious as visitors continue to suffer here.”
“The site that we proposed for the parking area was located near Jammu and Kashmir State Bank, Shaheed Park but the District Commissioner Pulwama refused to do so and said the park is the property of JK bank. The park can accommodate even vendors who are at the roadside of the market,” he added.
