Parking a work in progress for 4 yrs

Even four years after the underground parking lot at Hauz Khas’ E-Block market was kicked off, a ‘work in progress’ board continues to hang over it.

Even four years after the underground parking lot at Hauz Khas’ E-Block market was kicked off, a ‘work in progress’ board continues to hang over it.

Even though its foundation stone was laid in April 2012, it is yet to start operations. The parking is situated in an area where space crunch is a major problem.Though a security guard at the site claimed that work will be over in a year, there was no apparent sign of any progress apart from debris and iron pipes.But residents and shopkeepers said it will “never be completed”. “The foundation stone was laid by the then Mayor Arti Mehra on February 25, 2009, and since then work has been going on. Last year, they had organised a huge ceremony to inaugurate the facility but that was it,” said a shopkeeper.

Leader of the House in the south corporation Subhash Arya told HT that the delay was because of the lack of coordination among officials of the various departments of the civic body. “We inaugurated the project as the officials said the parking will be started in two months. Over 95% of work has been done. This week we will visit the site to take stock of the situation,” said Arya.

According to a senior corporation official, the project was supposed to be completed in two-three months after the inauguration but got delayed because of the trifurcation of MCD and then elections. “Some clearance issues are also stalling the nearly-complete underground parking lot,” the official said.