Wary NDMC seeks ‘refuge’ in cartons

Don’t be surprised if you find cartons parked in place of cars at Baba Kharak Singh Marg multi-level parking lot. Blame it on cautiousness and the technical snag at Sarojini Nagar multi-level parking.

Don’t be surprised if you find cartons parked in place of cars at Baba Kharak Singh Marg multi-level parking lot. Blame it on cautiousness and the technical snag at Sarojini Nagar multi-level parking.

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After 150 odd cars were stranded at the Sarojini Nagar parking due to snags, the NDMC has decided to not leave anything to chance. So, the agency is using cartons instead of cars to ensure safety of the vehicles.

According to sources, the council was hoping to inaugurate the Baba Kharak Singh Marg automatic multi-level parking lot this month. But due to the Sarojini Nagar fiasco, two more months will be needed for it to be made functional.

“A number of motorists faced difficulty in retrieving their vehicles after the system stopped responding at Sarojini Nagar. After the computerised vehicle retrieval system failed, we had to manually retrieve the vehicles. Hence, we have decided to continue the trials at Baba Kharak Singh Marg parking for a longer period. We don’t want similar problems to occur in this parking lot,” said a senior NDMC official.

Playing Safe

“We are using cartons instead of cars for the trials. We don’t want to take a risk with anyone’s vehicle,” added the official.

The Baba Kharak Singh parking lot uses a new technology in which a car user can place the vehicle on the empty palette located on the ground floor and the palette will move and park it in an empty space. The system can be compared to a Rubik’s cube where through continuous space shift, parking and fetching a car can be realised.

“We are hoping to complete the testing and commissioning work by February and will try to make it operational by March-end,” added the official.

The parking lot can accommodate 1,408 vehicles and the parking fee is R10 for an hour.

The Sarojini Nagar multi-level parking lot was made functional on November 10, but was shut for six days after it developed a technical snag on December 30.