PARKING PERIL: South Delhi – Motorists use residential lanes to park cars, locals fear for security

South Extension, which is among south Delhi's most visited market places, witnesses large numbers of visitors. But since it also lacks designated parking, most of these visitors park their vehicles outside the residential parts of the locality. Owing to this, however, locals have voiced fears over their security. They fear that such unchecked entry of cars could affect the security, since people may even use these for negative purposes.

"Most of us find it difficult to park our own cars near our houses. Moreover, we don't know if the vehicles parked outside are safe or not. For all we know, there may be bombs planted in them," said Vinod Gupta, general secretary, N Block, RWA South Extension 1.

However, visitors say they do so out of necessity, because there is a severe scarcity of parking within the commercial establishment premises.

Meanwhile, the lack of sufficient parking around South Extension also has traders in the market upset. The traders say customers prefer to go elsewhere because they know that this marketplace lacks parking space. Traders and residents have both been demanding proper parking management system, with an underground or multi-storey parking, to cater to the increasing number of vehicles.

The menace of vehicles illegally parked on both sides of the road has also refused to go away. Authorities fear that this particular issue, in case of an emergency, could prove fatal.