Govt plans multilevel parking at Delhi's Defence Colony 
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has proposed the construction of a six-storey multilevel parking which can hold at least 180 cars at Defence Colony market to solve the issue of insufficient parking space. The parking, which will reportedly cost around ?13.5 crore, was proposed as a part of the civic bodies' market development project focusing on 70 South Delhi markets.
A six-storey multilevel parking lot will soon come to the rescue of residents and shoppers at Defence Colony market. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has proposed the building of the parking lot within a year in Defence Colony to ease parking woes in the area. The parking, which will be able to accommodate at least 180 cars, will come up as part of the civic body?s project of market development in areas under its jurisdiction.Officials said that the south civic body wants to spruce up as many as 70 markets in south Delhi under the project. ?Defence Colony will be the first model market of the project and will have all prominent features to attract more footfall,? said a SDMC official.During the visit of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to the market on Saturday, SDMC commissioner Puneet Goel shared the design for the project that is proposed to be constructed on land measuring 914 sqmt. The estimated cost of the project is likely to be around Rs 13.5 crore.?Defence Colony is a hub for restaurants and is visited by tourists in large number. Though there is a surface parking facility in the area, it is insufficient to meet the demands. For the convenience of all, we have proposed to construct a fully automated multi-level parking lot there,? said Goel.Other markets, which will be developed by the corporation include Greater Kailash I and II, Aurobindo Market, Rajouri Garden main market, Green Park market, Hauz Khas, Dwarka, CR Park and Alaknanda .At the selected markets, the civic agency will ensure features such as uniform hoarding/signage (in co-ordination with shopkeers), water ATMs, toilets (especially for women), organised parking lots, stretching of dangling electricity wires, street furniture such as benches, dustbins, beautification of green patches/parks, fancy lights and disable friendly pedestrian ramps, among other things.The deputy commissioners of four zones in South Delhi Municipal Corporation have been asked to prepare list of the other markets which receive heavy footfall and have scope for doing development works. At Defence Colony, shopkeepers have already been told to install signages of uniform sizes in one month?s time. ?Though as per the Delhi Municipal Act, installing signages of uniform signages outside shops is mandatory, but people don?t follow it,? said a senior SDMC official.Last year, SDMC had started a project of giving uniform look to eight markets across south Delhi by providing disabled friendly ramps, modern infrastructure, LED lights and car-free zones. The markets chosen for revamp were New Friends Colony Community Centre, Green Park B-6 block market, Greater Kailash-1?s M-Block market, H-block Sarita Vihar, Hauz Khas Market, Saket J-block market, Punjabi Bagh Central Market and Vikaspuri?s PVR Shopping Complex.