Filth, fear rule NDMC municipal parking lot

As you drive down the levels of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run Asaf Ali Road underground parking lot near Delight Cinema, a cold feeling of fear creeps in.

As you drive down the levels of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run Asaf Ali Road underground parking lot near Delight Cinema, a cold feeling of fear creeps in.

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There is hardly any light in the second basement as tiny bulbs, nearly hundreds of yards apart, try to do their bit but fail miserably. “It is so dark during the day. You can’t imagine how it gets during the night. It becomes really difficult to drive out,” said Manish Sharma, a trader who parks his car daily there almost every day.

The first basement is slightly better with tubelights dotting the ceiling with wide gaps between one another.

However, irrespective of what level you are on, you will spot beer and liquor bottles scattered around every nook and cranny. Even during the day, people can be spotted drinking.

Vehicles - primarily four-wheelers and few two-wheelers - parked for months, if not years, take up almost 25% of the three levels of this underground parking lot, which can accommodate 1,400 vehicles.

A couple of months ago, North Delhi Municipal Corporation standing committee chairman Ram Kishan Singhal, had inspected the site and directed the officials concerned to improve sanitation and instructed the electricity department to make it well-lit. The engineering department of the civic body was also directed to complete the whitewash work at the parking.

Nothing has changed so far. The parking still looks hazardous for the visitors.